History of Preston North End F.C.

The club experienced a near-terminal decline in the 1980s which brought about the very real threat of closure, the nadir being the 1985–86 season when they finished 23rd in the Fourth Division and had to seek re-election to the league.

[2] Sudell's plan was to 'import' top players from other areas, primarily Scotland - which provided talent for many English clubs of the time in the form of the Scotch Professors.

In 1884 for instance, Upton Park, who arrived at Deepdale for a FA Cup tie, complained to the Football Association that their opponents had fielded a team packed with Scottish professionals.

North End withdrew from the tournament, but a threat from thirty-six northern teams to break away and form a rival football association forced the FA to legalise professionalism in 1885.

Preston were the first club to achieve the league and cup "Double" and they did so with a majority of their team being made up of "Scotch Professors" - as the professional Scottish players of the time were known.

In 1893–94 Preston plummeted down the league to finish third from bottom (14th), requiring them to beat Notts County in the end-of-season test match to retain their top-flight status.

Among Preston's players at this time were centre-half Joe McCall, Peter McBride (who is second only to Alan Kelly Sr. in the list of North End's record league appearance makers with 443) and winger Dickie Bond.

Again, the opponents were Huddersfield Town, with the outcome again decided by a penalty, George Mutch firing into the roof of the net after being unfairly challenged by Terriers defender Alf Young in the last minute of extra time.

English players moving to play abroad had hitherto been unheard of, but the decision of England international Neil Franklin to sign for Bogotá in Colombia in 1950 suggested that First Division stars were indeed attainable.

A penalty conceded by Tommy Docherty and a late goal from Frank Griffin who slipped the ball under goalkeeper George Thompson turned the game, and for the second time in two seasons Preston were English football's nearly men.

When the Football League finally relented, wages increased greatly, and young players developed by the smaller clubs as a way around this difficulty were lured away or sold in order to reduce debts.

Despite this, and containing the youngest player in FA Cup Final history in seventeen-year-old Howard Kendall, Jimmy Milne's side looked the likely winners for long periods, taking the lead twice through Doug Holden and Alex Dawson.

Charlton then resigned in protest over the sale of John Bird to Newcastle United[12] Harry Catterick, the former Everton manager, took over for two seasons in which the team finished eighth and sixth.

Promotion was won under Nobby Stiles in 1977–78, inspired by the likes of goalkeeper Roy Tunks, defender Mick Baxter, midfielder Gordon Coleman and the dynamic strike force of Alex Bruce and Mike Elwiss.

Docherty had brought in a clutch of players including Tommy Booth and Gary Buckley from Manchester City, Jonathan Clark from Derby County and John Kelly from Tranmere Rovers.

A 4–1 FA Cup defeat at Chesterfield[specify] saw 'The Doc' replaced by Alan Kelly (on a caretaker basis), before former Everton boss Gordon Lee joined in December 1981.

Unfortunately, the manager who had resuscitated the club began to struggle and a 2–0 FA Cup reverse at non-league side Whitley Bay proved to be the final straw in February 1990.

As a result, he struggled to move the team forward and Preston's mediocre league form continued through the next two seasons, eventually leading to his dismissal on 29 September 1992.

In the summer of 1994, the plastic pitch was removed by order of the Football League and the club was taken over by BAXI, producers of heating systems, who have a large manufacturing and testing facility in Preston.

Peters was aided by the young David Beckham, who joined the club from Manchester United on a month-long loan spell and scored two goals in his five appearances.

Despite losing their first game of the 1995–96 season 2–1 at home to Lincoln City, North End then embarked on a 21-match unbeaten run, which included a 6–0 drubbing of Mansfield, in which Saville and Wilkinson each bagged a hat-trick.

Gary Peters kept faith with the majority of his promotion winning outfit, reinforcing his squad at various stages of the following season with players who would be crucial to the club's success in subsequent campaigns.

In 1997–98, a very inconsistent period of form saw the club move Peters to a new position as Director as the Centre of Excellence and replace him with assistant manager David Moyes, who was formally appointed on 12 January 1998.

Moyes, who had been an excellent servant at centre-half for the previous few seasons, immediately injected a new zest into his side and the club eventually finished in 15th position, nine points above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, the collapse of ITV Digital cost the club an income of £4.6 million over the next two years, which meant that planning for the Invincibles Pavilion on the east side of Deepdale had to be postponed (the stand was finally opened in 2008).

[13] David Moyes left the club on 14 March 2002 to become manager of Everton and was replaced by Craig Brown just before the 2001–02 season ended, Preston finishing in eighth place.

[18] Simpson had been the manager of Carlisle United and he quickly replaced the recently departed defenders Claude Davis and Tyrone Mears with Sean St.

Preston North End as a business faced another crisis at this time with a winding up petition being served by HM Revenue and Customs on 14 May 2010 and all shares in the company being suspended.

[26] A deal was arranged whereby the club was taken over by Trevor Hemmings, a successful Lancashire businessman, whose company Deepdale PNE Holdings Limited secured a 51% shareholding.

[28] Through the 2010–11 season, which ended in relegation, a cost-cutting policy was implemented to put the business back onto a sound economic footing and eight of the team's higher-paid players were transferred out.