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First County Visit:	Friday 13th September 1985
Competition:	Canon League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Preston North End 1 – 2 Stockport County
Attendance:	3,439
Away Trip:	37
Away Day:	120
County Line-up	1 Mike Salmon; 2 John Rutter; 3 Steve Sherlock; 4 Les Chapman; 5 Tommy Sword; 6 Andy Thorpe; 7 Mark Wroe; 8 Paul Hendrie; 9 Mark Leonard; 10 Paul Smith; 11 Andy Hodkinson
Scorers:	Paul Smith; Andy Hodkinson
Manager:	Colin Murphy
County Visits:	10

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THE GRANDEST OF STANDS

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None of the terracing, but the satisfaction of putting one’s own posterior on the faces of Preston greats like Tom Finney with the seating arranged to depict them.  Seriously, the fountain / statue outside of the ground showing Finney ploughing through water and taking on a Chelsea full back has more than a hint of merit, unlike a lot of the complete rubbish that masquerades as art these days. It’s worth having a look at it here. On the left the photo of Finney at Stamford Bridge in 1954 and then immortalised outside Deepdale these days.

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REMEMBERING TOM FINNEY

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But for all the changes, and to my eye they are mostly for the good, there has been one travesty.  Quite simply the finest stand I have ever seen in my travels has disappeared.  Built in 1906 the Grand Stand, (picture below), certainly didn’t provide the best view but as Inglis said in his 1983 book it was “..one of the finest relics at any British football ground”.  

A simple barrel roof wooden construction supported by a whole raft of thin poles, it had but pretty spartan bench seating.  But to me it was a classic part of that uniqueness that made each and every ground different when first on my travels.  Not now of course, everything designed and built to a design that one architect seems to have made a fortune from, and soulless at that. 

The Grand Stand disappeared in 1995 – fortunately allowing me the opportunity to use it on one occasion, (indeed my first ever visit to Deepdale), in December 1984 when I saw the home side humbled 4-1 by what was then an upcoming Telford team in a 2^nd round game in the FA Cup. (For those curious as to why County wasn’t on the agenda that afternoon, an exit from the Cup at the hands of Walsall three weeks earlier had put paid to further progress, and as was the wont in those days we were a Friday night team and 24 hours earlier had perished at the hands of Blackpool).

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Early County visits normally saw me located in the Town End, reserved for visitors in those days.  A decent bit of covered terracing providing a decent view.  At the far end from this was more extensive terracing, not covered to the same extent, but rising higher than the Town End.  The North End was for the home denizens, not that there were ever very many on those initial visits. 

On the far touch line from the Grand Stand was the Pavilion, (also known as the Lowthorpe Road Stand.)  Pictures of the interior of this construction showed a fair degree of opulence.  Entering from the road it was covered in ivy and indeed had stained glass windows.  Maybe worshipping at the church of the Invincibles! Rumour had it that the interior was styled along the lines of places like Highbury.  Once inside the ground it was a bit different.  Seating for the hoi polloi was fine, but below was a terraced area which afforded neither a good view, nor, to be more than fair, any comfort or facilities!

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and for the hoi polloi but with a grim view from the terracing.

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But it was a ground I liked.  Later visits saw the inevitable changes coming.  The disappearance of the Grand Stand and the two terraced areas.  All that was left on the sorry trip that was my last, (to date), to Deepdale was the Pavilion area.  At 6-0 down the normal convention of an early departure came into play.  But leaving the ground way back in November 2001 I never envisaged that our fall would be so great that the prospect of making the 35 mile trip in the future would be one that would never come to fruition.

Preston of course was one of the few grounds that toyed with the first iteration of a plastic pitch.  I hold my hand up right now and say, writing in early 2017, that I truly believe that these are the future not only for non-league clubs but also for the vast proportion of the league hierarchy as well.  But the versions installed at Deepdale; Oldham; Luton and QPR, (and maybe others that escape my memory), left more than a lot to be desired.  Seemingly no more than a bit of carpet laid on a concrete surface, they contributed nothing to a football spectacle.  The bounce was more superball than football, and the chance of catching an overhit pass was minimal.  The risks to the players from carpet burns, at best, and more serious injuries from coming into unwanted contact with the surface saw them soon disappear and a reversion to grass.  And all for the best .. but only at the time.

What we have now is an infinitely improved product and I am absolutely convinced of their merits.  This season, (2016/17), I have seen games on the new style surfaces at Tamworth; Harrogate and on more than one occasion, because it’s local, Hyde United.  The quality is superb; it allows decent football; the old problem of the ball bouncing and running away has long gone.  It is the future.  And it’s the future not only because of the football but also because it enables smaller Clubs to maintain viability.  Take Hyde for example.  A ground used no more than 30 times a year with a grass pitch now has community activities 12 hours a day; 7 days a week.  The surface has brought the Club back into the community and has enabled Hyde to generate a revenue stream.  I still hear some of the managers say that they are not keen on the surface; that it can cause injuries, and that we should keep the tradition of grass pitches.  I can see the argument, and to be fair I am a great traditionalist but if the game is to be preserved at the lower levels, as the Premier League ploughs on with its own expansion without any thought for the rest of the game, I really believe that there has to be an acceptance that this is the way forward.  So even though the first iterations of the plastic pitched left more than a huge amount to be desired they did point, however faintly, to the future.

Turning to the visits to Deepdale.  It was always a decent trip. No more than an hour at worst, along the M61 so more than handy.  In the early days it involved a stop off at the Hesketh Arms at the top of the hill just off the M6, for a pie and a pint, then parking up in a school yard.  It’s strange that whenever I recall a lot of these countrywide trips they are marked by the route in and the preferred parking spot, and then by inference the easiest return route.  Four wins, (two of them 3^rd round FA Cup ties), two draws and five losses.  An average sort of record, but there again far better than on many grounds.  Not many of the games are imprinted on my memory.  Maybe the last, that six goal beating back in 2001. 

Keeping goal for the Hatters that afternoon was Tim Flowers.  A Premier League winner of course with Blackburn, he had pitched up at Edgeley and played 4 games on loan from Leicester.  It was not a period he would remember fondly – 13 goals conceded, with the caning at Deepdale being under a managerless County, as Craig Madden took temporary charge following the dismissal of Andy Kilner.  The next game was at Watford – somewhat miraculously a draw, under new chief Carlton Palmer.  But that was a false dawn.  Anybody, and I include myself in this, knew within 6 weeks that Palmer didn’t have a clue and by the time a 4 goal beating came at the Hawthorns on New Years Day the writing was on the wall as far as I was concerned. 

Why do some Chairmen believe that simply because somebody has been a decent, maybe great player, they will automatically be a good manager.  My theory on this is “A good player does not necessarily a good manager make”.  Look at the number of those players who think that they have a divine right to move into management at the top level and are patently not up to it.  Robson is one, and frankly, and far too close to home for comfort, was Didi Hamann, of whom more later no doubt.  But Chairmen are seduced by the starry-eyed notions.  For me the best manager in the Premier League this season, (2016/17), is Sean Dyche.  Remembered in his playing days for being one “dirty ********” at Chesterfield he clearly has all the ability at managerial level.  Good on Burnley for taking the chance and believing in him. Not the right pedigree for the likes of those Chairmen who think that a big foreign name is the way forward.  Look at Watford – give me strength – how many foreign coaches have they had?  A club going nowhere populated by mercenary foreign players, poisoned by the cancer of the agents that surround these underperformers.  Dyche will achieve more in the game than any of those characters will.

Which is all a bit of an aside.  Palmer turned up at Edgeley mouthing all the usual platitudes, managed to take us down a division, (although to be fair that was pretty much on the cards when he was appointed), and left.  He had another do at Mansfield and fared little better there.  “A good player does not necessarily a good manager make”. 

Preston then – some fond memories; some not so good.  It’s a bit of a theme when following County.  Just a disappointment that it’s now getting on for 16 years since we turned out there……

March 2017

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Archive footage of Deepdale in 1979, some 6 years before my first County visit. The ground was much the same

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Fri	13/09/85	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Preston North End	W	2	1	3,439	120
Tues	17/03/87	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Preston North End	L	0	3	7,867	141
Tues	27/10/87	Sherpa Van Trophy	Group Round	Preston North End	L	2	5	1,968	151
Thurs	26/12/91	Barclays League Division 3	Tier 3	Preston North End	L	2	3	6,801	222
Sat	20/03/93	Barclays League Division 2	Tier 3	Preston North End	W	3	2	5,255	256
Sat	19/04/97	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Preston North End	L	0	1	10,298	357
Sat	03/01/98	FA Cup	Round 3	Preston North End	W	2	1	12,180	374
Sat	16/09/00	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Preston North End	D	1	1	12,735	429
Sat	06/01/01 (Highlights)	FA Cup	Round 3	Preston North End	W	1	0	9,975	438
Sat	03/11/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Preston North End	L	0	6	13,776	455

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – BURNDEN PARK Next stop – BRISBANE ROAD