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History-Brief2

Preston North End History In Brief

The origins of the club can be traced to the early 1860's, when it occupied a strip of land, used by various other sporting clubs on the Ribble estuary, known as the Marsh. The Club remained there until 1867, when it moved to a new pitch on Moor Park. In 1875, the Club acquired a lease of the ground at Deepdale, where it settled and which remains the Club's home today.

Preston North End started out as a Cricket and Rugby club, the Club finally adopted association football in the late 1870s, playing its first game against Eagley in the 1878/79 season.

The clubs stature grew significantly in the 1880s and by 1887 it was recognised as being the best football team in England, despite only having the Lancashire Cup to show for the acclaim. In 1888 it became one of the twelve founder members of the English Football League along with (Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers) ironically the football leagues founder was a scotsman called William McGregor. In that season the Club won the inaugural League Championship, without losing a game, and also the FA Cup, without conceding a goal, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 3 - 0 in the final, thereby becoming the first club to win the "Double". The Club won the League Championship the following year, and such was the Club's dominance in English football at this time that it was dubbed "The Invincibles".

On the 31st August 1893, PNE FC was incorporated to acquire the Club's business. During the early decades of the 20th century the Club enjoyed little success but the late 1930s, the 1940s and the 1950s saw the Golden era in PNE FC's history. During this period, the Club fielded some of Britain's best known players at that time including the likes of Bill Shankly, Tom Finney and Tommy Docherty,  attracting gates of over 30,000 spectators for games at Deepdale.

The Club enjoyed First Division status for the last time in 1961 and from there on followed a period of decline which saw the Club drop into the Second Division. The Club's lack of success on the field continued through to the 1980s were in 1986 the club had to re-apply for election after finishing 91st in the football league, in this same year deepdale saw the infamous plastic pitch being laid.

PNE was incorporated in March 1982 and was subsequently used as a 'vehicle' by several private investors to acquire a controlling interest in PNE FC and to provide funding for the club. In September 1994, Baxi acquired control of PNE and its subsidiary PNE FC. The club was floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to raise capital for the redevelopment of Deepdale and the building of a team capable of higher division football.

Since Prestons move to adopt into the AIM, they have made radical changes to the stadium with 3 all seater stands being constructed with a combined capacity of 21,000, with a promise of the 4th stand to be more impressive as it will become the main stand. In 1998 Deepdale was choosen to be the home of the National Football Museum, with FIFA President Sepp Blatter attending Deepdale for the opening ceremony. Towards the end of 90s things started to look up for Preston with the appointment of David Moyes as manager who led us to the old Division Two championship and in 2001 90 minutes from the Premiership, as Preston were beaten in the old Division One playoff final at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium. So as we fast forward to the present date 2005 saw the appointment of new manager Billy Davies, with fans still hoping for the illusive Premiership.

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