Championship - Countdown: Preston North End

Eurosport - Tue, 04 Aug 10:10:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! continues its countdown to the Championship season with a look at Preston North End.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Championship Preston North End Jon Parkin - 0

Manager: Alan Irvine

Last 10 Seasons

(1999/2000 to 2008/2009): -/-/8/12/15/5/4/7/15/6

POSSIBLE STARTING XI:

Andy Lonergan

Youl Mawene - Sean St. Ledger - Eddie Nolan -Callum Davidson

Chris Sedgwick - Barry Nicholson - Billy Jones - Ross Wallace

Jon Parkin - Neil Mellor

BACK-UPS FROM: Wayne Henderson - Michael Hart - Liam Chilvers - Neal Trotman - Richard Chaplow - Darren Carter - Adam Barton - Karl Hawley - Chris Brown - Stephen Elliott

TRANSFERS:

In - None

Out - Paul McKenna (Nottingham Forest, £750,000) - Chris Neal (Shrewsbury, undisclosed), Simon Whaley (Norwich, undisclosed)

POSITIVES: Last season's run to the play-offs was impressive and proved how far Alan Irvine has taken the club since taking over from Paul Simpson. Neil Mellor and player of the year Jon Parkin form an effective partnership up front while defensively Sean St Ledger is a rock.

NEGATIVES: The loss of influential captain Paul McKenna to Nottingham Forest is a major blow. The tough-tackling midfielder had been at the club for 12 years, clocking up over 400 appearances, and it will be difficult to replace him. To date, Irvine has yet to make a move in the transfer market this summer.

VERDICT: Not only have Preston lost a talismanic player, but the Championship is stronger than ever before and expecting Preston to better last season's sixth place finish is a big ask. A difficult season lies ahead. 14th.

Mario Hajiloizis / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 11 of 11

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  1. good luck for the new season

    From willsam.jackson, on Thu 6 Aug 5:40PM

  2. Good manager Good but small squad. The problems though­ are the same as last year and before that. Shaw isn`t­ ambitious enough to let pne get promotion . He said as­ much in his interview on the radio

    From willsam.jackson, on Thu 6 Aug 5:39PM

  3. pne

    From willsam.jackson, on Thu 6 Aug 5:19PM

  4. North End is a very well run Club in all the areas that­ matter, but football is all about money, North End just­ don't have enough of it, either to retain our best­ players, or to buy the best players. What we do have is­ a very good manager in Alan Irvine, if he can motivate­ the players we have, the Lilywhites can be there or­ there-abouts come next May. Preston have a proud­ history, but history is made in the present, it is made­ on the field of play, it is the players we have today­ who can make history, by their commitment and­ dedication and by their skill and we, the supporters,­ need to be there to roar our team on and be part of the­ history that could be written over the next 9 months -­ when we can say, we were there.

    From veephilarmetryding, on Wed 5 Aug 11:42PM

  5. Mario Hajiloizis how would he know about the mighty­ PNE. another top six finish in the offing, Shitpool to­ go down.

    From Stuart S, on Tue 4 Aug 2:52PM

  6. PNE have got shut of the dead wood and with the Balkan­ Gerard signing imminent, a top half finish at worst­ should be in the offering.

    Down the road at the­ sewers, relegation for the donkey malesting demi­ stadium dwellers this time around is an inevitability!

    From Stu R, on Tue 4 Aug 2:42PM

  7. Rich s is more than likely to be a Blackpool fan so his­ opinion doesnt count for much!!!

    From carl.smith99, on Tue 4 Aug 1:57PM

  8. I reckon Preston could be up for relegation this season

    From Rich S, on Tue 4 Aug 11:38AM

  9. I would not put too much hope on Parry, we were glad to­ see the back of the "Fluffy One"

    From garethwilliams143, on Tue 4 Aug 10:59AM

  10. Article is somewhat out of date already (though­ probably not when it was actually written...There is­ now no back up from Karl Hawley. He now plays for Notts­ County! When is "View from the Terraces"­ coming back? I love writing in that series!

    John­ Wilson
    a.k.a. PROF!

    From JOHN, on Tue 4 Aug 10:30AM

  11. I have a feeling that North End may suprise them all­ yet.....

    Irvine has managed to get a good, solid team.­ Yes there is limited flair, but the team is hardworking­ and consistent. McKenna is a big loss but the arrival­ of Parry should just about make up for that.

    Go PNE!

    From DaveM, on Tue 4 Aug 10:04AM
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