COCA-COLA CHAMPIONSHIP

Po

Team

PL

Pnts

5

Burnley

46

76

6

Preston North End

46

74

7

Cardiff

46

74

David Sadler - born 5 February 1946

Joined Preston North End in 1974 from Manchester United. He made 121 appearances (including 1 as substitute) for the Preston and scored 4 goals before retiring due to injury in 1977. David was capped 4 times for England.

Steve Senior - born 15 May 1963

Signed from Wigan in 1990, Steve made 73 appearances, scoring 3 goals for Preston. He moved to Witton Albion in 1992

William "Bill" Shankly, OBE - born 2 Sept 1913 / died 29 Sept 1981

Bill Shankly's playing career began in Scottish Junior Football, where he played for the now defunct Cronberry Eglinton and Glenbuck Cherrypickers. In July 1932 he caught the eye of scouts and was signed to play for Carlisle United making his debut on 31 December 1932 against Rochdale. In July 1933, after only 16 appearances for Carlisle, he signed for Preston North End for a fee of £500.00. He was a key member of the Preston side promoted to the First Division in 1934 and played in two FA Cup finals, Preston losing to Sunderland in 1937, but beating Huddersfield Town in 1938. Shankly made his debut for Scotland in a 1-0 win against England in April 1938. He made four further appearances for his country, plus another seven in wartime internationals, but his distinguished playing career was cruelly interrupted by war in 1939. He played for a number of teams during the war, including Northampton Town, Liverpool, Arsenal, Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town, Partick Thistle and King's Park and helped Preston to victory in the 1941 Wartime Cup Final at Wembley. When the 1946-1947 season kick-started organised professional football again in England, Shankly resumed playing for Preston, but was 33 and coming to the end of his playing days. World War II had taken away the best years of Shankly's career. Later, in a 1964 tour of the United States Shankly couldn't believe American people had never heard of Tom Finney. Between 1933 and 1949 he played 296 games and scored 13 goals. Although he’s more famous for his Management days at Liverpool, Preston Named a stand after him

Percy James Smith - born 1880 / died 1959

He started his playing career with Hinckley Town before joining Preston in 1902. He quickly achieved success, helping Preston to the Second Division title in 1904, and to the runners-up position in the Football League in 1906. After eight seasons at Preston, he moved to local rivals Blackburn Rovers in 1910. He played 240 games and scored 94 times for PNE.

Alex Spark - born 16 October 1949

He joined Preston North End as a junior from his native Stenhousemuir. He made his debut as a substitute against Rotherham United on 30 December 1967. He made 225 appearances for Preston (18 as substitute), scoring six goals between 1967 and 1976 and winning a Third Division championship medal in 1970-71 season. He joined Motherwell briefly in 1976. He scored 6 goals for PNE.

Jamie Squires – born 15 November 1975

Another Product of Deepdale, Jamie made 31 appearances for PNE between 1994 and 1998, before joining Dunfermline in 1998.

Ian Stevens - born 21 October 1966

It was while playing local league football that Stevens was spotted by Preston North End who signed him as a professional in November 1984. His time at Deepdale was difficult however with the club going through a transitional period and at the end of the 1985-86 season he was released after playing just 10+2 games scoring 2 goals. After spending a month at Stockport County (1 game 0 goals) Stevens found himself without a club and playing non-league football for Lancaster City.

Norbert "Nobby" Peter Stiles MBE - born 18 May 1942

He was the toothless midfield ball winner of England's 1966 World Cup winning squad. Stiles and Bobby Charlton are the only Englishmen to have won both World and European Cups. He won these whilst playing for Manchester United, he then signed Middlesbrough, and then signed for Preston in 1973. After playing 46 games and scoring 1 goal for the club. He became a player-coach at Preston North End when Bobby Charlton was manager in 1973, though this did not work out for Charlton, and Stiles ended up as manager from 1977 to 1981

Andrew Victor 'Andy' Saville - born 12 December 1964

Nickname “The Bald one”. His professional career lasted sixteen years, spent at a total of ten lower-division clubs. He made over 100 appearances for his home-town club Hull City, whom he joined from school. Saville was his club's leading scorer on several occasions, at Hull in 1986–87, at Birmingham in 1993–94, and again the following season for Preston, where he scored 30 goals in all competitions, his 29 League goals making him overall top scorer in Division Three. In 1992–93 he had the rare distinction of becoming top scorer for two clubs in the same season, scoring 20 goals in all competitions for Hartlepool before moving to Birmingham in March 1993, where his ten games produced seven goals, which no other Birmingham player had bettered over the whole season. Signed by Preston from Birmingham in 1995, Andy became a huge hit, partnering up with Stevie Wilkinson. He helped Preston win the Division 3 (now Div 2 title) He scored 30 goals in 56 games for Preston.

Graham Shaw – born 7 June 1967

Graham's time at Deepdale was a mixed affair however with him brilliant one game and then extremely disappointing the next. Much of this can however be put down to injuries and the fact that he never really had a regular or good enough strike partner. His first season with the club though started like a house on fire with him scoring 6 goals in his first 4 games including a League cup hat-trick against Tranmere Rovers. The rest of the season was a disappointment though with Graham picking up an injury a few games later against Bristol Rovers and adding only 5 more goals to his early season burst. His next two seasons with the club were more consistent with Graham missing only a few games and scoring 15 goals in 1990-91 and 17 in 1991-92. Surprisingly though Graham was offered the chance to return to Stoke on the eve of the 1992-93 season. With North End boss Les Chapman given funds to strengthen his squad after 2 disappointing seasons in which the club only just avoided relegation Graham was sold to Stoke as part payment for bringing Tony Ellis back to Preston. In all Graham played 136(8) games for Preston scoring 42 goals

Andy Smith - born 25 September 1980

He was a prolific scorer with Glentoran which made Preston North End pay £130,000 to bring him back to England in 2004. Andy failed to score for Preston North End in three years and had loan spells at Stockport County and Motherwell in which he also didn't score. He joined Cheltenham Town on loan on 2nd November 2006, but returned to Preston North End, again without scoring, before being released on a free transfer at the end of January 2007. He spent the next six months with Bristol City. He signed for Portadown in October 2007.

Alan Spavin - born 20th February 1942

A product of Preston North End's youth system, he featured in over 400 league games for the side. After starring in the 1960 FA Youth Cup Final side he broke through to the first team at the start of the 1960/61 season, scoring against Arsenal on his debut on 30 August 1960 as an eighteen-year-old. He established himself as a first team regular over the following two seasons and won a FA Cup runners-up medal in 1963-64 as Preston lost the final 3-2 to West Ham United. He was named the club's Player of the Year as Preston won the Third Division championship in 1970-71. He moved to America in 1973, but returned to Deepdale in 1977 for a spell as player/coach. In total he played 486 games for Preston (including 13 as substitute) and scored 32 goals. Alan returned to the States where he and Alan Kelly, the former PNE goalkeeper ran an indoor soccer school "The Corner Kick" in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Eventually they sold the business and Alan Spavin now lives in Ormond Beach, Florida

Gary Swann - born 11 April 1962

It was in November 1986 however that Preston North End boss John McGrath offered City £10,000 for Swann's services. During Gary's time at Deepdale McGrath moved him into a more advanced midfield position (a position he had played occasionally at Hull) and he became an integral member of the Preston team helping the club to promotion from the old English fourth division in his first season. This hard working and often unsung player also had an uncanny knack of scoring vitally important goals from either his usual midfield position or from full back, his biggest haul of 14 in 1986-87 season more or less single handedly keeping Preston in the English third division after Gary had helped them to promotion the season before, his first with the club. Gary's goal scoring prowess also earned him the nickname "The Ghost" due to his ability to appear almost unnoticed at the far post to score, something that soon became Gary's trademark. Gary was also an ever present in both 1987-88 season and 1989-90 season finishing runner-up in the club's official player of the year awards on both occasions to Bob Atkins and Warren Joyce respectively. In all Gary played 250 first team games for Preston scoring 47 goals and considering that he never took a penalty nor played as a striker this is quite an achievement in a side that generally underachieved.

John Thomas - Born 8 August 1958

Signed for £15,000, John's stay at Preston started badly, for although John was scoring regularly and forming a potent strike partnership with Gary Brazil, the team as a whole were performing woefully badly finishing the 1985-86 season in 91st position, therefore having to apply for re-election. John however did on a personal note finish the season successfully by picking up the clubs official player of the year award for 1985-86. The following season was however a different story. With a new artificial pitch laid and John McGrath at the helm Preston stormed to promotion with John finishing the season as the clubs leading scorer. The rumour however of a fall out with manager McGrath only increased with Thomas being dropped several times during the season to be replaced by the likes of Nigel Jemson, Frank Worthington and Steve Taylor. He did though every time regain his place in the team, ending the season with an excellent 28 goals. At the end of his contract in July 1987 he was sold much to the fans dismay to Bolton Wanderers for a bargain £30,000 after finding the net 38 times in just 78 games

Derek Temple - born 13th November 1938

Derek was transferred from Everton in 1967 to Preston North End for £35,000. He made 76 appearances for Preston, scoring 14 goals.

Peter Thompson - born 27 November 1942

Thompson began his career at Preston North End after they had beat off 16 other clubs to the school leavers signature, he scored against Liverpool in an FA Cup tie in 1963, impressing manager Bill Shankly sufficiently to pay £40,000 for him later the same year.

Thomas (Tommy) Thompson - born 10 November 1929

Given his prolific scoring rate, his sale to Preston North End for £27,000 was surprising to fans and media alike. At Deepdale, Thompson scored within the first two minutes on his debut during a 4–0 win against Everton F.C. He went on to score 5 times in his first 6 games for Preston and in the 1957–58 season, he peaked with 34 League goals. Thompson scored 117 goals in 118 league games for Preston.

Roy Tunks

Roy Tunks was a professional footballer. He played for Preston North End as a goalkeeper in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was famously nicknamed "Teflon Tunks: the Man with Non-Stick Hands" by Prestonians. He was PNE Player of the Year for the 1979-80 season.

Oshor Joseph Williams – born 4 April 1958

It was while at Port Vale and during his second season with the club that Oshor won his first promotion when the Valiants were promoted to the Football League Third Division in 1986. Soon though after 62 games and 7 goals for Vale troubled Preston North End came calling and after agreeing a bargain £2k fee Oshor was on his way to Deepdale for the start of the 1986-87 season. Immediately installed as captain John McGrath really got the best out of Oshor. PNE stormed to promotion with Oshor who scored 10 league goals in 29 games being a big influence both on and off the pitch. The next two seasons however were almost a washout with injury restricting Oshor to just a handful of games. His influence off the pitch and in the dressing room though was still apparent with Oshor even lending a hand on the training pitch. Sadly though at the end of the 1988-89 season Oshor decided to call it a day from playing full time and started work behind the scenes at Deepdale both as a coach and in the commercial department. Oshor still though did turn out part time for Lancaster City in the Unibond League where his ability was still there for all to see. He played 39 games and scored 12 times for PNE.

Jeff Wrightson - born 28 May 1968

Jeff was snapped up by legendary Preston North End boss and former Magpies defender John McGrath to add both steel and class to his newly promoted sides defence. Used mainly as a substitute in his first few months of the 1987-88 season Jeff started to make a real impression when asked to come in and bolster up North End's leaky defence. With some typically consistent performances Jeff helped the Deepdale club to a comfortable mid table position. The following 1988-89 season though was a totally different story with Wrightson forming a new three pronged central defensive partnership with Bob Atkins and Adrian Hughes. With Preston also employing two wing backs and packing the midfield they stormed to the end of season play offs only to lose to eventual winners Port Vale. From then on though Preston began to struggle and although Jeff was his usual consistent self, even winning the clubs 1990-91 player of the year award the teams performances on the pitch were at times woeful due mainly to the clubs policy of selling off there best players to balance the books. In fact during a three year period PNE sold Tony Ellis, Tony Philliskirk, Mark Patterson, Gary Brazil, Warren Joyce, Brian Mooney, Alan Kelly and Ian Bogie for a pitiful combined total of £1.2m without ever really replacing them. It therefore comes as no surprise that a team who should have been challenging for promotion was now more often caught up in a relegation dog fight. During the 1991-92 season and after three disappointing seasons Jeff found his career had come to a crossroads. Jeff though after turning down the offer of a new two year contract by the now manager and McGrath's successor Les Chapman was surprisingly at the end of the season after 197 games and 5 goals released. Despite his reputation Jeff found that the only club interested were Blackpool but after an unsuccessful trial period he was now at the age of 24 without a club. He played 166 games and scored 4 goals. With hindsight Jeff may feel that had he signed the contract offered by Preston in 1992 he would have gone on to better things as not long after the club were taken over by BAXI and the rest as they say is history