Fan Viewpoint - Preston North End: Overachievers

Fan Viewpoint: Preston North End - Overachievers

From setting foot through the gates of Deepdale for the first time in 1993, the journey of how the club has risen and fallen has been an interesting one.

From then to now the club has always cut its cloth accordingly. After suffering relegation into Old Division Three in 1993, the club had to reboot and start again. Many managers and players have come and gone since then but the football club still remains.

In 1996 Preston North End were crowned Third Division Champions. This was thanks to Gary Peters, and squad of players he assembled. Much of this success was the fact Preston were being backed by Brian Gray and The Baxi Company.

As the late 90's rolled on the club parted company with Peters. His departure was the beginning of David Moyes managerial career. Moyes managed to put North End on an even footing in The Second Division. Careful spending along with the Moyes’ masterplan brought success to The Lancashire Club by getting them promoted to Division One in 2000. The Following season, North End suffered a 3-0 Division One Playoff Final defeat to Bolton. It was an excellent season where the impossible dream of the Premier League seemed so close. The old cliche of 'so near, yet so far' 

The early Noughties after Moyes departed to Everton. Preston strived for stability, avoiding the dreaded crash of ITV Digital which took the affected similar football clubs like Stockport County. 

After Craig Brown's tenure between 2002 and 2004, Billy Davies was tasked with managing the team. Like David Moyes before him, he put together a team of youth and experience. Once again, the club fell short of becoming a Premier League Football Club by losing out to West Ham 1-0 in the 2005 Playoff Final. 

In amongst all this Preston continued to be shrewd in its running of finances. 2006 was another year in which they fell short of trying to take a bite of 'The Premier League Carrot'. North End lost out to Leeds in the Playoff Semi-Finals, 3-1 on aggregate. The money was building and the backing of the board was there. 

2006-2008 provided a reality check as clubs with bigger support bases, budgets and TV rights money overtook them. The overachievements of the previous years had taken its toll on the club and once again the cloth was cut accordingly. The sale of some of the prized assets was necessary to keep the club alive. 2009 brought another miracle playoff campaign but again it fell short. 

In the summer of 2010 the life of the club was well and truly on the line. Trevor Hemmings stepped in and bought up all necessary shares and took control of the club. He ultimately saved the club from sinking under.  With that came a halt to overspending on players that demanded high wages that were in turn failing to perform. Attendances dropped and eventually in 2011 with Phil Brown at the helm, the club was relegated from The Championship. Our 10 year stay in the second tier had ended.

In late 2011 Graham Westley was appointed as manager. Although his time at the club wasn't pretty, he did what he was employed to do. He dispensed players on high wages and pieced together a team of grafters on lower wages but gave EVERYTHING for the shirt and the supporters. 

With Westley balancing the books on the financial side of things, results were beginning to suffer. He was eventually dismissed and Simon Grayson appointed. 

After Westley’s Austerity reign, Grayson was given money to spend. He got the very best out of the players at his disposal too. Firstly, he helped the club survive in League One. The following season the manager and owner followed suit of ten years previous and brought in a mix youth and experience. This balance brought it's own small success by getting into the playoffs in 2014. Unfortunately North End but lost to Rotherham in the semi-finals who were eventually promoted to The Championship. 

The 2014-2015 season brought success back to Preston and their place back at The Championship. An amazing season was capped off with Simon Grayson leading Preston to a Playoff Final WIN vs Swindon at Wembley. North End won convincingly 4-0 with a Jermaine Beckford hat-trick and a Paul Huntington strike.

The money the club made from the promotion brought stability and safety. Preston are now halfway through Season Four in The Championship. 

A lot is said about budgets, TV rights and spending 'big' money to stay in The Championship. Preston have a workman like team and one of the smallest budgets in The Championship, but they continue to stay safe every year without breaking the bank. It is better to survive in this cruel footballing world than gambling all the clubs security and assets chasing a dream that is just not viable. 

Supporters soon realise that they can't have everything they want on demand because it doesn't happen 'just like that'.

Preston as a club have overachieved at so many points over the last twenty years and it's clear to see that. The club is still alive, kicking and healthy whilst other clubs have fallen by the wayside. Time and time again it is a testament to the owner and the managers that have always had the club at heart. 

Joe Smith 2018 - @joesmith2610 on Twitter.