Preston

Preston North End The Preston North End established in 1863. It was initially an amateur cricket club. They played their first match at the Marsh close to the River Ribble in the Preston suburb of Ashton. In the following year, they moved into Moor Park in the north of the town. They dubbed them "North End" to honor the new site. On the 21st of January, 1875, the club purchased the field next to Moor Park on the site of the present Deepdale stadium that has served as its base since then.

The club established an unison team of rugby in 1877 for an exercise for winter, however, it was not successful and, a year later they began playing their first match in association football. It was in the month of May, 1880 that a plan to adopt the association code was unanimously approved which was the moment that Preston North End Football Club was officially established.

Preston was one of the first major professional teams by bringing in members from Scotland. The players from Scotland to play in England at that time were referred to in the Scottish Professors. In 1887 they defeated Hyde with a 26-0 score in the opening round of the FA Cup, still a record-setting margin of victory for English First-class soccer. Scottish striker Jimmy Ross scored eight goals during the game and went on to score 19 goals during the season and still hold the record.

The 1888-1989 season was when Preston was the very first team to be champions of the league, and also the premier winners of "The Double" and became the only team to finish the entire season without losing both the league and the FA Cup - winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal. The team achieved this feat with the majority of their squad comprised made up of Scottish members (the Scotch professors). In a note to Paul Agnew's biographical biography on Tom Finney, the player himself wrote: "The club has long been called Proud Preston while the Old Invincibles from the past century set some amazing standards". The writer wrote in another article: "...and that team was immortalized as the "Old Invincibles'". Some sources refer to the team as "The Invincibles" and both variations of the name have been employed. The autobiography of Finney states: Finney stated: "The championship was won by North End -- by being renamed The Old Invincibles in the next year, however, the runners-up positions were required for the following three season". According to what Finney stated, Preston were league champions again in 1889-1990, but did not win that title ever since. They have been runners-up in leagues at least six times, including three seasons in succession from 1890-1891-1892-93 as well as twice during the 1950s while Finney is playing. The last major trophy the club won victory was 1938's FA Cup Final when they defeated Huddersfield Town 1-0 and the team consisted of Bill Shankly, Andy Beattie and goal-scoring George Mutch.

The most well-known player at Preston, Tom Finney, joined the club when he was a teenager in 1938. The debut of his first team was postponed until 1946 due to his involvement in the Second World War but he was a player for Preston until the time he retired in the year 1960. He was known as"the "Preston Plumber" due to his local business. Finney is still the club's top goalscorer, scoring the club's top scorer with 187 goals in 433 games and scored thirty international goals in the name of England in 76 games.

After Finney's departure, Preston were relegated to the Second Division and have not been in the highest division since. They enjoyed a memorable season in 1963-64 , when they were managed under former footballer Jimmy Milne, they finished third in the Second Division and reached the 1964 FA Cup Final where they were defeated 3-1 against West Ham United.

Preston were the first team to be relegated from the Third Division after the 1969-70 season. However, although they were promoted immediately, the team has been in the Third Division for 28 of the 49 seasons following 1970 in the lower two divisions, with 19 seasons from the year 1981 through 1982 , and 1999-2000. The team saw a close-to-terminal decline in the 80s, which led to the real possibility of closing The lowest point came in the 1985-86 season, when they ended up at 23rd place in the fourth Division and had to compete for renewal into the league.

Under the direction of manager John McGrath, the team was able to recover and earned promotion into the Third Division only a year after, but it was a false start when the team spent 3 years within the bottom division between 1993 and 1996. The team finally started to recover and progress after the takeover of heating company Baxi in 1994, but the ownership was ended in June 2002. The central defender of the team, David Moyes, then aged 34, started his managerial career after being appointed by the Baxi-owned board in February 1998. Moyes was successful and led Preston to the third division championship in 2000. Preston made it to the play-off final but were beaten in the play-off final by Bolton Wanderers. In the play-off final of 2005 under Moyes his successor Billy Davies, Preston were defeated 1-0 by West Ham United.

After the Baxi sale and the departure from Moyes for Everton in 2002 the team was set up in the second tier of football until the mid-2000s. However, more issues arose towards the close of the decade, with the issue of an HM Revenue and Customs winding-up order in 2010 , and the team's transfer to the third tier in the year 2011. The tax issues were resolved with the help of the local commercialist Trevor Hemmings, already a shareholder who purchased an interest that was majority-owned in June of 2010. The team was promoted again through the play-offs in 2015 and has been in good shape for the EFL Championship since then.

Deepdale was the first cricket club's base from 1875, and was an official football stadium since 1878. It is the world's longest-running football stadium, with respect to continuous use by a club that is in the major league. When Baxi became the manager, it began an investment program that had the primary goal of modernizing Deepdale to a modern stadium. The original stadium was destroyed and rebuilt over four phases and the final stadium launched in the year the year 2008. The redevelopment also included the first National Football Museum which opened at Deepdale in 2001. However, it moved in Manchester in 2012 after having been shut for two years.

The current site for the Deepdale stadium was first acquired to the club by 1875. It began to be used as an association soccer stadium in the year 1878. The largest attendance was 42,684 at the Division One clash with Arsenal in April 1938. After a major reconstruction that took place in 1996-2009 the stadium can seat a capacity of 23404. The present pitch dimensions are 110 75 yards.

Outside the Sir Tom Finney Stand is a statue of the famous player himself, which is known as "The Splash" or the "Tom Finney Splash". The statue, sculpted by Peter Hodgkinson and unveiled in July 2004, was inspired by a famous photograph taken at the Chelsea versus Preston game in 1956, played at Stamford Bridge in particularly wet conditions.

An attempt was made to destroy the ground in 1913. As part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign, suffragettes carried out a series of bombings and arson attacks nationwide during their campaign for women's suffrage. In April 1913, suffragettes attempted to burn down Deepdale's grandstand but were foiled. In the same year, suffragettes succeeded in burning down Arsenal's then South London stadium, and also attempted to burn down Blackburn Rovers' ground.[19] More traditionally male sports were targeted in order to protest against male dominance.

As of 4 July 2022

Preston North End F.C. is a football team located within Preston, Lancashire. The team is currently playing within the Football League Championship, the second-tier in the English football league system.

Preston became the premier English league champions. They also took home their first FA Cup in the same season, without conceding a goal and achieving the first soccer "Double" and earning the name "The Invincibles" for completing the season without defeat in both cups and leagues.

The following is a listing of players and non-playing personnel:

As of 11 Dec 2021

The following is an alphabetical record of Preston North End managers since 1986, which excludes caretakers.

Manager	Nationality	Period	Total					League
			G	W	D	L	Win %	G	W	D	L	Win %	Point Av.
John McGrath	England	1986–1990	192	74	53	65	38.54	165	68	45	54	41.21	1.51
Les Chapman	England	1990–1992	129	44	30	55	34.11	118	39	29	50	33.05	1.24
John Beck	England	1992–1994	99	36	20	43	36.36	87	31	19	37	35.63	1.29
Gary Peters	England	1994–1998	166	72	42	52	43.37	143	63	37	43	44.06	1.58
David Moyes	Scotland	1998–2002	234	113	60	61	48.29	196	95	53	48	48.47	1.72
Craig Brown	Scotland	2002–2004	106	36	30	40	33.96	97	32	28	37	32.99	1.28
Billy Davies	Scotland	2004–2006	101	45	35	21	45.55	87	40	31	16	45.98	1.74
Paul Simpson	England	2006–2007	67	27	14	26	40.30	62	25	14	23	40.32	1.44
Alan Irvine	Scotland	2007–2009	110	45	25	40	40.90	99	40	24	35	40.40	1.45
Darren Ferguson	Scotland	2010	49	13	11	25	26.53	45	11	11	23	24.44	0.98
Phil Brown	England	2011	51	15	15	21	29.41	42	13	11	18	30.95	1.19
Graham Westley	England	2012–2013	62	16	23	23	25.81	52	11	21	20	21.15	1.04
Simon Grayson	England	2013–2017	235	104	74	57	44.26	198	84	67	47	42.42	1.61
Alex Neil	Scotland	2017–2021	140	55	39	46	39.29	129	51	37	41	39.53	1.47
Frankie McAvoy	Scotland	2021	33	14	9	10	42.4	22	8	8	6	36.36	1.45
Ryan Lowe	England	2021–	26	10	9	7	38.5	25	10	9	6	40.00	1.56

As per detail below.

Football League First Division (first tier)

• Champions: 1888–89, 1889–90
• Runners-up: 1890–91, 1891–92, 1892–93, 1905–06, 1952–53, 1957–58

Football League Second Division/Football League First Division/Championship (second tier)

• Champions: 1903–04, 1912–13, 1950–51
• Runners-up: 1914–15, 1933–34
• Play-off Runners-up: 2000–01, 2004–05

Football League Third Division/Football League Second Division/League 1 (third tier)

• Champions: 1970–71, 1999–2000
• Play-off Winners: 2014–15

Football League Fourth Division/Football League Third Division/League 2 (fourth tier)

• Champions: 1995–96
• Runners-up: 1986–87
• Play-off Runners-up: 1993–94

FA Cup

• Winners: 1888–89, 1937–38
• Runners-up: 1887–88, 1921–22, 1936–37, 1953–54, 1963–64

FA Charity Shield

• Runners-up: 1938

Football League War Cup

• Winners: 1940–41

Lancashire Senior Cup

• Winners: 1886–87, 1892–93, 1894–95, 1899–1900, 1938–39, 1996–97

• Most Goals (Overall): Tom Finney, 210 goals from 473 appearances.
• Most League Goals: Tom Finney, 187 goals from 433 appearances.
• Most Appearances (Overall): Alan Kelly, Sr. , 511 appearances (between 1958-1973).
• Most League Goals in a Season: Ted Harper, 37 in Football League Second Division, 1932–33
• Record Attendance: 42,684 v Arsenal, Football League First Division, 23 April 1938
• Record Cup Victory: 26–0 v Hyde, FA Cup, 15 October 1887
• Record League Victory: 10–0 v Stoke, Football League Division One, 14 September 1889
• Record Defeat: 0–7 v Blackpool, Division 1, 1 May 1948
• Transfer Record (Paid): £2,000,000 for Tom Bayliss from Coventry, August 2019
• Transfer Record (Received): £10,000,000 for Jordan Hugill to West Ham Utd, January 2018
• Youngest Ever Player: Ethan Walker 16 years and 156 days
• Oldest Ever Player: Bob Kelly 41 years and two months

In the past, Preston North End's primary rivalry has been with Blackpool because the two stadiums are 17 miles apart in addition, their derby match, the West Lancashire derby between the two clubs has been played at least 96 times in all 4 divisions in the Football League and cup competitions from 1901. Other local rivals of Preston in the league over time are Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.

The main sponsors of the club since the introduction of shirt sponsorship in 1979 the following have been sponsors:

The previous women's soccer team was known as Preston North End W.F.C. In May of 2016 they were renamed Fylde Ladies F.C., as part of National League North side AFC Fylde.