Preston North End - Let’s Play - Stan the Man takes Charge

StanLindsay1

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PNE - Let’s Play - Stan the Man takes Charge

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Welcome to my Let’s Play of Preston North End (PNE) – the first ever English League champions and original ‘Invincibles’. I am excited about this Let’s Play because Preston are the team I support. I can still remember the glory days of David Moyes leading us to that agonizing play-off final defeat against Bolton and the sheer ecstasy of the 2015 League One play off final win v Swindon Town. The club has produced some excellent players including Sir Tom Finney, Bill Shankly and Mark Lawrenson. Preston’s home ground is Deepdale and, although it only has a capacity of 23,404, it is the oldest continually used stadium in England by a professional club.

History:

Preston North End was a founder member of the Football League in 1888. They won the inaugural championship and the FA Cup, the latter without conceding a goal. They were the first team to achieve the “Double” and won the league again in 1989-90, but this would be their last top division title. Preston won the 1938 FA Cup by defeating Huddersfield Town and this remains the last major title won by the club.
Sir Tom Finney is the clubs most famous player. He made his debut in 1946 and is generally considered to be one of the best footballers of all time. He remains the clubs all time top goal scorer with 187 goals in 433 appearances. The year after Finney retired, Preston were relegated to the Second Division and have not played in the top division since.
Preston’s have many local rivalries being from the football hotbed of North West England. The fiercest of these is with Blackpool and Burnley, both West Lancashire derbies. Other geographic rivals include Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton (we still haven’t gotten over that play off defeat either).
Preston have faced serious financial issues and were twice in danger of closure. The club is now owned by Trevor Hemmings who saved the club from a winding up order.

Modern Day:

Having been promoted to the Championship in 2015 through that glorious play off defeat, Preston have stabilized well, finishing 11th​, 7th​ and 7th​ place. The clubs financial pulling power is a tiny percentage of the likes of Leeds, Nottingham and Middlesborough, so the club has punched well above their weight in recent seasons. The challenge now is to push on and finally make the leap to the promised land of the Premier League.

Philosophy

My aim is, ultimately, to return the team to the top tier of English football and then win the League and FA Cup double, just like the original Invincibles. However, we need to walk before we can run and will start with trying to get promoted via the play offs. Keeping hold of our key players will be essential if we are to achieve this. I won’t be forcing any players to stay against their will, but will be driving a hard bargain to reinvest in my playing squad. I am keen to develop own players through our Youth Academy. Preston will have a small transfer budget to sign players, so I will use the loan market to secure top quality players. Preston has always had a reputation for signing a high number of players from Ireland and Northern Ireland such as Sean Maguire, Alan Browne and Daryl Horgan in recent times. I will aim to continue this trend and look to sign mostly British and Irish players. I also want to use the Youth Academy to try and finally unearth the next Tom Finney, a local Preston lad who will excite the crowd with brilliant runs and has an eye for goal.


Objectives
  1. Get Promoted to the Premier League
  2. Win the FA Cup
  3. Win the FA Cup and League Double
I aim to update this thread regularly and keep it going for at least 5 seasons – who knows where we will be by that time? Hopefully not sacked or relegated, that’s for sure. So sit back, buckle up and enjoy the story of Stan 'The Man' Lindsay’s attempt to revive the famous Preston North End!
 
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Meet the Team


Goalkeepers

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Chris Maxwell is my best keeper. The Welshman is approaching his prime for a goalkeeper at 27 years old and is also perfectly suited to playing Sweeper Keeper role that I like to utilise. He could be our first choice keeper for a long time.
Declan Rudd is an excellent understudy at this level. Unfortunately for him, this means he is worth a few quid so likely to be sold in January barring injuries. Crowe is 22 years old and will do as a back up. I will ideally eventually replace him with an academy graduate.

Defenders

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This is one of the few areas of the team where I have quality and cast amounts of Championship experience. Darnell Fisher is nailed on to start at right back, with the injury prone Callum Woods providing cover. Captain Tom Clarke and Tom Huntingtoon are both 30 years old and provide bags of championship experience. Covered for by the promising Ben Davies and the younger Jordan Storey, central defence is a strong point for the team. Davies can also slot in at left back but will have stiff competition from Andrew Hughes and 19 year old Josh Earl, a youth prospect who could be a star of the future for us.

Central Midfielders

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This is another position where we have experience and quality. 33 year old Paul Gallagher is lethal from set pieces, despite not being able to get about the park like he used to. Ben Pearson and Alan Browne are solid ball winners and two of the best players at the club. Daniel Johnson, the one Jamaican player at the club, provides flair and creativity, whilst Ryan Ledson is a new signing from Oxford United with a bright future ahead of him.

Attacking Midfielders

This is an area of the team with plenty of competition for places, but not a lot of experience with our oldest player just 26. Former Man United player Josh Harrop is a exciting prospect who can play just behind the striker. On the left wing Tom Barkhuizen is one the quickest and most exciting players to watch in the team. His competition will come from Billy Bodin who missed a large chunk of last season through injury. On the left flank, Graham Burke is the latest in a long line of irish imports from the League of Ireland. Callum Robinson and Brandon Baker (on loan from Man City) will look to provide goals as well as assist from that side of the pitch.

Strikers
O dear, o dear, this is where the trouble starts. Not a lot of depth here. Sean Maguire is the key to our season. If he stays fit, we have a chance. If not, we have all the capacity to get relegated. Regardless, Lukas Nmecha and Louis Moult will need to make their limited opportunities count and chip in with a few goals when they can. Connor Simpson is a young man, but going to be out of his depth at this level.

Key Players - Sean Maguire

Our hopes and dreams for this season hang almost entirely on his shoulders. His work rate is excellent and with a finishing rating of 16, he won’t miss many. Plus – he’s still only 24 years old! He will play up front and I think he can do it on his own. If he’s struggling, I may switch formation and stick someone else up there with him.

Top Prospect

Adam O’Reilly

Yet another Irishman making a name for himself is 17 year old Adam O’Reilly. The central midfielder has decent vision, an impressive first touch and an eye for a long-range finish. The rest of his game will require some work and it may be some time before he makes his first team debut. But it’s certainly a name to keep an eye out for.

Summary

Overall, a reasonable team which should be capable of battling well in the unpredictable world of Championship football. We are a bit thin on the ground in terms of depth but, if we ride out luck with injuries, could well push on to those play off places.

Introductions

The board meeting was about as exciting as I imagine a board meeting can be. What’s that? – you’d like me to play attacking football and develop youth team players? – right up my street! I then took the time to tell all of the support staff exactly how to o their jobs for the foreseeable future and bounced into my first press conference. I told the press how much I loved our current board (a big shock that I love the people are paying me 10 grand a week and decide my transfer budget), how everyone would get a chance to prove they were worthy of being here and how we would be prioritising the league over everything else.

Tactics

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Having looked at the players we have, I have decided to go with the ever popular 4-2-3-1 formation. This will allow me to get the best out of the vast amount of quality wide players I have. Also, looking at the complete lack of talent up front, I’m very happy to only play one of them at a time up there. I will have a back up 4-1-2-3 formation and a flat 4-4-2 when we need to simply retain possession.

Transfers

I locked out the first transfer window so no transfer will be made until January. This means squads will stay the same as the real life team.

Coming Up In The Next Post…

Injury updates
The beginning of the Championship campaign
The League Cup Campaign begins

Note:
I am open to all feedback and comments on this. Why not answer the following question?
1. How well will I do this season?
 
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