Category: Preston North End

Preston North End or football related to the region around Preston.

Preston North End set for relegation – Part 2

After last Saturday’s home defeat against almost relegated Plymouth the odds are lengthening on PNE relegation to League 1.

So where are we now?

All teams below have played 45 games and have one to go:

Stoke  50pts  Goal Difference -17   Last Game Derby v Stoke

Derby   49pts   Goal Difference -8  Last Game  Derby v Stoke
PNE    49pts   GD -11    Bristol City v PNE
Luton  49pts  GD -22   WBA v Luton

Hull    48pts    GD -10    Hull v Portsmouth
Plymouth  46pts    GD -36  Plymouth v Leeds
Cardiff   43pts   GD -22   Norwich v Cardiff

If PNE get 0 points:
Hull and Luton need to get 1 point to overtake PNE.

If PNE get 1 point:
Cardiff, Plymouth down.  Luton and Hull will need to win to overtake PNE.

If PNE get 3 points:  theyll stay up.

On current form Bristol will beat PNE.  Hull should get a point, Luton could be struggling to get a point but end of season effect may make WBA weaker.

It’s a tight call, Luton have won their last 3 and PNE have lost their last 4.  Does that favour Luton.  PNE have a variable record against Bristol City who are fighting to stay in the play-offs and play at promoted fighting for the top slot Leeds United today.

 

Preston North End heading for relegation?

The big question is will Preston North End be relegated in May?  After losing the last 3 games and not winning in recall of memory the chances are it’s possible but optimistically unlikely.

Splash! Tom Finney statue at Deepdale.
Splash! Tom Finney statue at Deepdale.

Preston’s goal difference makes it hard for Luton, Cardiff or Plymouth to overtake PNE.   Although Luton could do it with a win and a draw if PNE get no more points.  Luton play Coventry and WBA which would be quite tough games normally, Coventry in a play off position.

This Saturday against Plymouth appears a good opportunity for Preston but Plymouth have won a few games recently and PNE have developed a way of losing up to the last minute.

You wouldn’t swap places with Derby though.

PNE to stay up positioned 18th.  Derby or Luton to go down with Cardiff and Plymouth.

 

Some stats, largely thanks to the BBC website.

Standings on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 

All played 44 games, 2 to go.

Possible relegation candidates:

16th Portsmouth 52pts  GD -13   Max pts 58

17th Stoke 50pts  GD -15   Max pts 56

18th Preston   49pts  GD -10  Max pts 55

19th Oxford  49pts GD -18  Max pts 55

20th Hull  48pts  GD -9   Max pts 54

21st Derby 46pts GD –9  Max pts 52

Relegation Positions:

22nd Luton 46pts GD -23   Max pts 52

23rd Cardiff 43pts GD -23  Max pts 49

24th Plymouth 43pts GD -37  Max pts 49

Still to play each other:
Preston v Plymouth
Hull v Derby
Derby v Stoke
Hull v Portsmouth

Disclaimer:  opinion in this post is largely influenced by hope.

North End low down

Just for the record hoping there’ll be great news in 6 months.   After a poor start North End are second from the bottom of the Championship.   The season was opened with a win, since there there has been 2 draws and 4 defeats.

Tonight Leeds v PNE.  Could this be the start of a comeback.  Leeds are top of the league.

It’s 130 years since PNE took part in the opening games of the first Football League season, 8th September 1888, beating Burnley 1-0.

The PNE team that lost to bottom Reading at home last Saturday was:

Rudd
5. Clarke
23. Huntington
6. Davies
2. Fisher Substituted for Harrop at 56’minutes
12. Gallagher Substituted for Nmechaat 57’minutes
11. Johnson
3. Earl Booked at 90mins
29. Barkhuizen
7. Robinson
9. Moult Substituted for Burkeat 80’minutes

Substitutes
10. Harrop
14. Storey
16. Hughes
19. Burke
21. Barker
22. Maxwell
45. Nmecha

North End keeping their chances open

The last game of 2017 away at Cardiff City on Friday 29th January ended with a win  putting PNE into 8th place at the end of the year.  Still in touch with the play-off positions.   With an excellent run they could still get automatic promotion but let’s be realistic.

After finishing last season 11th they almost made it to 2nd place in mid-October but a very late equaliser by Fulham put paid to that and an injury hit defence started to leak goals pushing PNE to 13th at the end of November.  A respectable December put them up a few places to within striking distance of the play-offs.

Splash! Tom Finney statue at Deepdale.
Splash! Tom Finney statue at Deepdale.

 

David Moyes sacked from Manchester United – all the best to a great manager

David Moyes ex-PNE player and manager could be said to be Made in Preston.  His record as manager at Deepdale with Chairman Bryan Gray was their best for several decades. The period was one of transformation into play-off specialists, but never quite making the very top, and updating the ground.  Some are now saying with hindsight that his record at Everton was similar in that they never quite made it.  Although they were consistently on the fringe with little money to be spent in a time when money makes everything.

It was unfortunate that he was asked to put on the boots of Goliath at Manchester United and that the team had a lot of players who were past their best.  It was unfortunate that the Chief Executive stood down at the same time as Moyes arrived and new Chief Executive appears to be mainly a businessman rather than a soccer club supremo.  It could be that his style wasn’t the attacking, free flowing one needed or maybe he felt a bit intimidated and that time would bring it on.

It must be sickening for someone who has strived so hard to be in this situation.  Let’s hope he’s not too downhearted as there can be no doubt he’s a great manager who will be back.

North End’s Promotion Prospects

Preston North End have been in the top 6, mainly in 4th place, in League 1 for most of the season.  Their points haul puts them well ahead of the 7th team so a place in the play-offs looks assured, needing 79pts or 10 more from 8 games.

However automatic promotion seems very unlikely with North End being 10 points behind the 2nd team.  Three teams above PNE have scored far more, have a much better goal difference and have games in hand.

The 8 games to go are:

Home – Peterborough, Crawley, Carlisle, Shrewsbury, Gillingham.

Away – Bristol, Brentford, Crewe.

Normally 5 home games would be an advantage but PNE are doing better away.  In reality it is likely only 6 points are needed to get to the play offs.

Automatic promotion looks to favour Wolves and Brentford, with Leyton Orient a possibility and Rotherham on a late run.

The play-offs look to favour: Leyton Orient, Rotherham, Preston and Peterborough.  MK Dons look like an outside chance.  Swindon, Walsall, Port Vale and Sheffield United also have a chance.  With Sheffield making a late surge and having 2 games in hand.

In the play-offs it will be a lottery although on paper Leyton Orient will feel to be favourites.   Sheffield United and Rotherham are both looking like late improvers.  Experience says that things can still change quite a lot and Easter often sets the situation.

PNE have a realistic chance of getting to Wembley and then winning promotion.  We must hope they don’t ease off as it’s sometimes hard to step up again.

North West of England football hierarchy 1st January 2013

Where does your club stand in the north west from Premier to Conference Premier League?

I’d expect Preston North End to be at least 8th and potentially 5th.  Above Wigan and running to be ahead of Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton and Burnley.   Yet Wigan are impressive and deserve their Premier League spot and until last year so did Blackburn and Bolton.  Which leaves Preston slugging it out with Blackpool and Burnley.  If Blackburn and Bolton don’t recover their Premier position quickly they will reduce their status for the long term.

  1. Manchester U
  2. Manchester C
  3. Everton
  4. Liverpool
  5. Wigan *
  6. Blackburn
  7. Blackpool
  8. Burnley
  9. Bolton *
  10. Tranmere
  11. Crewe
  12. Preston
  13. Carlisle
  14. Oldham
  15. Bury *
  16. Fleetwood
  17. Rochdale
  18. Morecambe
  19. Accrington *
  20. Hyde
  21. Macclesfield
  22. Southport
  23. Stockport
  24. Barrow*

* end of division.

Deepdale, home of Preston North End
Deepdale, home of Preston North End

Overall there are 112 clubs in the 5 divisions and 24 are in the North West or Granada TV region from Macclesfield in the south to Carlisle in the north.

First win for Westley at PNE

Preston 1 Hartlepool 0.  Over 14,000 watched PNE score fairly late in the game and take their first win for the new manager.  The team has a lot of new faces and PNE could be on target for record turnover of players: 01 Stuckmann, 05 Robertson, 35 McAllister (Murphy – 67′ ), 42 Hunt, 10 Nicholson (Mayor – 54′ ), 13 Marrow, 15 Barton, 17 Parry, 38 Procter, 37 Holroyd, 39 Cummins. Substitutes: 25 Arestidou, 03 McLaughlin, 50 Brown, 16 Mayor, 34 Murphy (McLaughlin – 90′ ).

Graham Westley takes over at PNE

Graham Westley has moved from Stevenage to take over the managers job at Preston North End. Bringing his 2 coaching staff, John Dreyer and Dino Maamria.

Not wasting any time he signed 3 loan players on Friday 20th January: Jamie McAllister, Andy Procter and Chris Holroyd.

The first game against Leyton Orient on 21st January started with a line up of: Stuckmann, McLean, Morgan, Carlisle, McAllister, Coutts, Procter, Parry, Proctor, Jervis, Holroyd. Subs: Gray, Nicholson, Tsoumou, Barton, Arestidou.

Preston lost the game 0 – 2 at home in front of a crowd of 11,436, not a good start. With Mayor pulling out sick shortly before the kick off and Bunn, loaned from Man City, not playing.

After the match Graham Westley said the team were not fit enough. Although some say that after a bad run they had started to get more points in the last few games.  Many think that too many players just aren’t good enough and it will be interesting to see how the new manager turns it round.

It isn’t known what is happening with Graham Alexander and David Unsworth who are both very popular at the club and had been managing the team in the interim.

PNE end Phil Brown’s time

After a poor run of results PNE’s new Chairman, Peter Ridsdale, told Phil Brown his time was up yesterday, 14th December, only 11 months after he replaced Darren Ferguson. PNE have had a string of management changes with Alan Irvine and Paul Simpson following Billy Davies.  Phil Brown is an optimistic and charismatic manager and it is with regret that this has happened, yet results aren’t good.

A win at Hartlepool at the end of November was the first league win since the end of September when PNE were well established in the top 6 of the league. Since then poor results have continued although injuries seemed to fog the issue and PNE are clinging onto the top half of the table.

Now PNE are in the hands of Paul Unsworth and Graham Alexander who will be given a chance to prove themselves. With four games up to new year and then a two week break it could be that decisions will need to be made before the transfer window closes if PNE have any money to spend. Rumours abound that there are clubs after certain players, which in some ways is a good thing, if PNE can hold onto them.

The season is no-where near over and an automatic promotion place is still possible, although in reality a play-off place might be optimistic.

North End move to second place

Worth mentioning that after winning last night at Wycombe, PNE are 2nd in league 1 with a game in hand on the leaders. So theoretically could be table leaders. Not to get over excited at this stage in season.  A couple of seasons ago they were top in November and tumbled down the league narrowly missing relegation.

PNE 2011 / 12 fixtures released

Yesterday the Football League released Preston’s League 1 fixtures.  The first game is at home against Colchester on the 6th August. The last time PNE played Colchester it was in the cup and PNE scored 7 goals. The second game is at fellow relegation club Scunthorpe on 13th August.

It would be easy to be complacent but PNE had a bad season last year and ended quite a few points behind the team above. There is no reason to suppose that League 1 teams will be overawed, clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and United have big histories. MK Dons, Huddersfield and Bournemouth won’t be easy to beat. There is a good standard of play in the top half of league 1, PNE will do well to be in the top 6.

PNE Relegated 25th April 2011 – back for the Guild?

After being promoted to the Championship in 2000 and reaching the play-offs 4 times: 2001, 2005, 2006, 2009 Preston lost at home today while teams above won, and so PNE were relegated.

During the time in the Championship North End had some good strikers, Healy, Macken, Nugent, Cresswell and for a short time Fuller. Quite a few good defenders and half backs as well, Alexander, Etuhu and McKenna. Lonergan has been around a long time but only broke through more recently.

David Moyes and Billy Jones were the most successful managers while the unfortunate Phil Brown inherited a squad that was well down and has the worst record ever of any Preston manager. For that reason he must stay to improve it.  He’s got a tough job as League 1 is no push-over although the current squad must surely be good enough for the top half.  That is assuming they all stay or can be afforded and several will leave.  Trevor Hemmings has kept the club afloat and watching him on TV at the Grand National he came over as someone who likes to be in charge.

A little prayer.  We await the guidance and hopefully the largesse of Trever Hemmings. We also hope for Phil Brown to stay and find some new talent un-noticed by other clubs.

Now bring on 2011/12 and what unfolds before next August. Guild year 2012 PNE back in the Championship.

PNE: 3 games to go – still not down

Poor result at Millwall and on TV. Or was it on TV so was obviously going to be a  poor result.  Phil Brown has a big job to keep belief high in the squad after losing 4-0 but it’s still there to fight for.

The Millwall result makes PNE’s goal difference worse than Crystal Palace and Doncaster by 2 goals.

PNE could stay up with only 5 more points out of 9 possible, but it depends on bad results elsewhere.

If relegation or promotion chasing teams are regarded as tough then PNE have a reasonable chance of staying up with 2 wins out of the 3 games.

PNE have 1 ‘tough’ fixture. PNE v Cardiff.  Ipswich away and Watford at home aren’t formidable.

Crystal Palace have 3 ‘tough’ fixtures. Leeds, Hull and Notts Forest.

Scunthorpe have 1 ‘tough’ fixture.  Scunthorpe v Notts Forest. Millwall and Portsmouth don’t seem as tough.

Sheffield United have 2 ‘tough’ fixtures. Reading and Swansea. Barnsley shouldn’t be so tough.

Doncaster have 3 games against teams with nothing to lose.

Saturday May 7th might be a last day crunch. PNE v Watford.  Crystal Palace v Notts F. Scunthorpe v Portsmouth, Swansea v Sheff U.

Sometimes in football things become clear very quickly, other times they creak on to the final minute. Here’s to good fortune for PNE.

PNE not out, but looking sick

North End have played all the top teams in the last few weeks and in reality haven’t done that badly. Depressing that the new manager Phil Brown has not won a single game yet little more has been expected in these fixtures, which isn’t a good thing.  There is still belief in the long term for the manager though.

Of the remaining fixtures there are 4 where a victory isn’t asking too much, against Scunthorpe (a) and the home games against Coventry, Sheffield U, Watford.  Many of the other games aren’t ones that should put too much fear into PNE and draws against Swansea(h) and the away games at Reading, Portsmouth, Doncaster, Millwall and Ipswich as well as Cardiff(h) don’t seem improbable.  That would be 19 points or 44 in total – not enough. So wins in 4 of those 7 drawn games are needed, seems too much to hope but it’s not over till the fat lady sings. Two wins; at Scunthorpe and against Coventry would put their tails right up for a roaring finish.

PNE at the nadir or on a chute

PNE 0 Bristol City 4. Sounds bad yet PNE were fighting back after losing an early goal until McLaughlin had a serious injury just before half time; all the best to him.  Several new players in the squad.  Sometimes new managers see a downturn before the up so is this the worst result before something gells or is it just the way it’s going to be. 

Still feel more confidence in Phil Brown and Brian Horton than any of the last managers, but also had confidence in Neil Mellor, things aren’t looking good for this season but it’s not over yet. 10 points adrift with 2 games in hand and 18 games to go, need to get about 32 more points, not impossible, just improbable.

Noted that Alan Irvine was replaced by Gary Megson at Sheffield Wednesday last week.

PNE’s big game at Scunthorpe

We’re all waiting for the lift off and the 6 pointer at Scunthorpe is the place to start.  Defeat will leave PNE at least 5 points adrift, pschologically damaged although perhaps theoretically little further away from safety, and with only 2 points from 3 games under big Phil Brown.  A draw will still leave the axeman smiling.  Scunthorpe have a bad home record with some big defeats of late whereas PNE are showing signs of bouncing back off the bottom.

In the last week another forward has been loaned, 6′ 2″ Leon Cort from QPR.  As the weeks go by signs of change should be more obvious, so here’s to 5pm, 3 points and a bit less tension!

Scunthorpe Update: Noon, cancelled due to a frozen pitch.   Away to Barnsley on Tuesday, no six pointer and without a potential win under the belt.

Phil Brown appointed Preston manager

Some optimism now. We all know Phil from his extravert antics at Hull, providing a lot of entertainment; singing to the crowd, keeping the players on the pitch at half-time. He did a good job there, although they seemed to have some money.  Football is about entertainment so bring it on. 

Not long ago there was Billy Davies who surprised us all but wanted money and left, then Paul Simpson who seemed OK at first but was perhaps coasting on Billy Davies’s team till it fell apart,  Alan Irvine who was a nice guy and did well at first but then hit a very lean spell, Darren Ferguson who had two good seasons at Peterborough but his team had struggled in the Championship.   Yesterday someone quoted that Bill Shankly said a football team is 3 great players supported by the rest, or something like that. So have PNE got 3 great players: Lonergan, St Ledger and ……..   Shame about Alexander, McKenna, Wallace leaving, who sold them?

Now with 19 points from 24 games and needing 8 points to get 1 point out of the relegation zone it is a mountain to climb.  Phil has a practise game against Notts Forest in the cup then a week later it’s Leicester at Deepdale.  If PNE can score some goals it isn’t beyond hope they can get 9 points from the next 4 games and they’d then be in the middle of the scrap and able to claw their way out. Scoring has seemed difficult lately.