PNE Portal | Club History

Preston North End began in 1863, but not as we know it today. When established, it was a cricket club. The first game as a football team was only 15 years later.

Cricket was the only arranged sport of the town and the team first played at 'The Marsh', now the location of GEC Alstom on Strand Road.

In the 1860's, the club moved to a new ground opened by the town corporation on Moor Park. The ground was named North End simply because it was at the North End of the town.

The club ran into extreme financial difficulties and despite this moved to a new pitch in Deepdale. The pitch which became one of the most famous grounds in football today.

Playing cricket and also trying out new ventures like lacrosse and rounders, the club turned to rugby. This venture was a failure because they could not compete with the Preston Grass Hoppers who were well established.

On 5th October, 1878, the club played its first game under association rules againt Eagley which it lost 1-0. It was noticed that other clubs in Lancashire were performng well and a call for the association rules was adopted.

In March of 1881 North End played Blackburn Rovers and were beaten 10-0. This reverse following a defeat in the Lancashire Cup v Turton did not however diminish enthusiasm and the next big leap forward was in the summer of 1883 when William Sudell, having seen tactics employed by neighbouring clubs went north to Scotland and obtained the services of N J Ross from Heart of Midlothian, Ross became one of the best full backs of his time, other players who came from Scotland were Drummond, Russell and Gordon. Thus was formed the nucleus of the team which was to make North End so famous.

In 1884, following a draw against Upton Park, a protest was put to the FA for the following reason; Preston was paying its players. The expulsion from the cup followed but was to be a move which has shaped the game which we watch and play today.

The club did not deny this so following expulsion from Cup competition he commenced his historical move to have professionalism legalised in that same year James Ross (younger brother of NJ) and Sam Thomson came down from Scotland and Robert Howarth, a local boy joined the club as fullback.

The success which Sudell brought to Deepdale and the short time taken to achieve this is illustrated by the fact that from 22 August 1885 to 26 April 1886, North End were undefeated and during the season won 59 out of 64 matches, scoring 318 goals and conceding only 60.

In 1886 Sudell completed his team building with the signing of a centre forward, John Goodall, and the Invincibles were on their way to making football history. Another season worthy of note was in the season 1887/88 when North End won 42 consecutive matches, but there was bitter disappointment when, as hot favourites they were beaten 2-1 in the Cup Final on 24 March 1888 by West Bromwich Albion.

However, next season 1888/89 not only were they founder members of the league but they won the FA Cup and were the first team to achieve the double, doing this at the first opportunity. In 1889/90 North End were again League Champions and were runners up in the following three seasons.

A limited company was formed in 1893 which was the end of the Sudell reign but the genius of a man who could build such a team and which justly earned the name the Invincibles is fully recognised today. North End is the only club from the founder Members of the Football League who have played continuously on the same ground. Deepdale has been the venue for soccer for over a century.

The period before the First World War is often referred to as yo-yo when North End were relegated to the Second Division on two occasions and immediately came back.

In 1922 they once more reached the FA Cup Final but were beaten 1-0 by Huddersfield Town who scored from a penalty. 1924 saw the retirement of one of the Clubs great stalwarts, Joe McCall who had played at Deepdale for 20 seasons.

From September 1925 for four seasons Alex James was a favourite whose transfer to Arsenal in 1929 hit the football headlines when the fee involved was reported to be £9,000.

Following the departure of James, relegation to the Third Division was twice narrowly avoided but what happened later with a Management Committee of four under the Chairmanship of the late JI Taylor was a modern football romance. Holdcroft, Lowe, Harper, Rowley, Tremelling, Shankly, Gallimore and Dougal were signed and promotion was gained in 1934. The two Beatties Andy and Bobbie (unrelated) together with Mutch, Smith, Milne, Fagan and the O'Donnell brothers were among the many Scots who came to Deepdale.

North End reached the Cup Final in 1937 when they lost to Sunderland and in 1938 when they reversed the result of the 1922 Final by beating Huddersfield town 1-0, the winning goal came from the first penalty awarded at Wembley, and was scored by George Mutch with the last kick of extra time.

After the war and until his retirement in 1960 the skill of Tom Finney was the most important aspect of football at Deepdale. His genius and gentlemanly conduct was and still is, and example for all footballers to follow and brought great credit, not just to the maestro but also to his home town of Preston. The honour of being made Freeman of the Borough and the award of the CBE for services to football was just reward for this footballing legend, Sadly North Ends defeat, 3-2 by Albion in the Cup Final of 1954, did not result in a Cup Winners Medal and another disappointment was in 1953 when the First Division Championship was lost to Arsenal on a goal average difference of one.

As with so many other League Clubs the decline in the fortunes of North End started with the abolition of the maximum wage and with the concentration of successful clubs within the larger cities where stadiums could be filled by drawing on a relatively small percentage of the population.

North End reached Wembley again in 1964 when they lost what is still considered to be a classic final against West ham United, the team included a young Howard Kendall.

North End is also proud to be linked with the footballing feats of goalkeeper Alan Kelly who joined the club in 1958 from Drumcondra and, until his enforced retirement, following a shoulder injury sustained in the game against Bristol City on 15 September 1973, gave sterling service, his record speaks for itself. He was first choice goalkeeper for 13 seasons and holds the Club record of 447 league appearances. (Keeping 126 clean sheets) and 47 caps for Eire.

North End's most recent visit to Wembley came in the 1993/94 season when the team reached the third Division play-offs. Torquay United were the opponents for the first round, with the match being played at Plainmoor, Torquay won 2-0. The second round was played on Wednesday 18 May 1994 when memorable scenes were witnessed at Deepdale. North End went one goal up within the first ten minutes, only to see a two-goal advantage regained before half time, plus, Torquay gained the valuable away goal. The sending off of Torquay defender Darren Moore ten minutes before half time spurred Preston on. They scored twice in the second half to take the game to extra time, Torquay looked like holding out and winning on the away goals rule until Paul Raynor scored with only four minutes let on the clock and so North End were to feature once more at Wembley. The team that played that night were Steve Woods, Andy Fensome, Ryan Kidd, Lee Cartwright, Stuart Hicks, David Moyes, Gareth Ainsworth, Neil Whalley, Paul Raynor, Tony Ellis, Ian Bryson, subs were Greg Challender and Richard Lucas.

Preston played Wycombe Wanderers in the final and unfortunately lost 4-2 having been 2-1 up at half time

In 1996, however, everything went the way of North End and under the management of Gary Peters the club was promoted as Champions of Division Three. During the Championship season the Sir Tom Finney Stand was opened, named in recognition of the maestro, the start of the redevelopment of Deepdale into a stadium for the 21st Century.

This Sir Tom Finney Stand is the home of restaurants and a Conference Centre. The stand seats between 7,000 and 8,000 fans and has match day facilities for spectators on concourses within the stand. It will also house the National Football Museum, due to open later this year.

After Gary Peters’ resignation in January 1998, David Moyes took over as Manager and in his first full season in charge he led the club to its highest League finish since the 1980/81 season, only losing out to Gillingham in the play-offs. It is now nearly three years since David took charge of Preston North End and last season was his most successful yet as he guided Preston to the Second Division title, and a place in the First Division for the first time in 20 years. This season the team is once again challenging for promotion and his ultimate aim is to lead the club to the Premier League.

The next stage of the ground re-developement to be completed was the Bill Shankly Stand, which was formerly the Spion Kop Stand. The work started in December 1997 and was completed in June 1998. This stand now houses a fitness centre and football musuem, and the Town End begins in March 2001.

The completion of the stadium is dependant on the performance of the team, so in effect, if the team go up a division then the stadium development will continue.

Extracts taken from PNE website.

You can learn more about the history of football at the National Football Museum which is situated at Deepdale. Click here for the museums website.