Preston North End’s season has the potential to end as anything but ‘boring’ despite the club never threatening either the play-off or relegation spots this season.

Sunday at 1.30pm sees Champions League quarter finalists Aston Villa come to Deepdale for PNE’s first FA Cup quarter final since the 1960s. 

To suggest North End will enter that game as anything but clear underdogs would be ridiculous, but the tie has injected a potential prize into the season – something that has often been absent by the time March and April roll around.

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Under Ryan Lowe and Frankie McAvoy, North End seldom looked in danger of exiting the Championship in either direction. Since returning to the Championship, they have finished between 9-14th every season with the exception of one strong near-miss under Alex Neil, Longridge-based, who unsuccessfully reapplied to be North End boss in the Autumn. 

Instead, they have new manager Paul Heckingbottom – who is popular, for the time being, and from his appointment the team have been occasionally excellent while remaining inconsistent. The vibe, though, is that things are moving in the right direction.

George Hodgson, the Lancashire Post’s PNE reporter, told Blog Preston: “There has been the odd bump in the road but on the whole there’s been a consistency about PNE’s organisation, energy and aggression.

“North End have been more fluid and free but there remains big room for improvement in the final third.”

Steph Lambert, who runs the Preston North End Fans Forum group and used to play for the club’s ladies team, agrees. She said: “The tenacity of the squad is a lot better, they seem to all know their job each game and we are starting to form the foundations of a real contending team.

“We have at times been the masters of our own downfall. We have struggled for consistency, too often we have gone from looking like Barcelona one game to Bath in the next.”

The high point of the season, however, was undoubtedly the 3-0 tonking of local rivals Burnley to reach the FA Cup quarter final in the first place. The mood at that point had lifted significantly from where it was before Christmas. 

Back in November, PNE Online and Preston Supporters Collective wrote to the club’s owner to say that North End being labelled as ‘the most boring club in the EFL’, as had happened on a Championship podcast, was ‘hard to dispute’. Among the topics never more than a run of three games without a win from being discussed is the perceived sense of apathy around the club. It was clear the letter was as much aimed at club director Peter Ridsdale as it was the owners.

That letter in itself was controversial but the heated online debate it sparked and the nature of the club’s response was all arguably indicative of various passionate people trying to inject a sign of life into the football club.

It’s a common source of disagreement between fans – where some are grateful for the stewardship of the Hemmings family who ultimately spend millions of pounds every year to keep the club afloat, but others ultimately want to see a new direction that involves a clear plan for progression.

The club’s viewpoint has always been that it is hamstrung by the club’s financial position – but also financial fair play rules. Conspicuous by his absence from all the conversations we had for this piece is club director Peter Ridsdale, a man with a filing cabinet to document the level of abuse he has received at various times. At football clubs, when things go well it’s down to the manager, but when things go badly the ire is often aimed further up the chain.

Adam Salisbury, co-host of the Preston North End Weekly podcast, told Blog Preston: “I can see where the letter came from given it’s likely we’ll finish between 11th and 14th in the Championship until the end of the time but I like to find those nuggets of joy in isolated moments as opposed to season-long success. 

“I wasn’t bored at North End’s away wins this season, I haven’t been bored on the whole at Deepdale where PNE has lost once under Heckingbottom and I’ve not been bored on this cup run. 

“I find the apathy argument draining, though I can understand where it comes from.”

If you take away the FA Cup run and Ryan Lowe taking his ball and going home in August, you’d be hard pressed to think of ways the club has definitively shaken off the assertion that they are boring this year. They have improved quietly and remained under most people’s radar.

Instead, North End have two first-team players due in court in Jordan Storey and Milutin Osmajic, with the latter also charged by the FA after allegations of racism in a league fixture vs Burnley. All those matters have been given more column inches and airtime, rightly or wrongly, than a club reaching its first FA Cup quarter final of most people’s lifetimes.

But it shouldn’t take away from the early achievements of Heckingbottom. He’s been a steady influence when the club needed it, appointed after just two fixtures played, and retains the goodwill of the fans. After Lowe, it feels like an adult has rocked up at the club. There is a hope North End could challenge for the top six next season with a bit of luck.

But North End fans have told themselves that before, buying season tickets to watch Ryan Lowe’s North End in record numbers. That particular relationship broke down quickly and dramatically between fan and manager. Lowe’s hubristic interview style, or ‘spiky’ in the words of George Hodgson, and his failure to deliver the entertaining football he promised proved too problematic, though everyone spoken to for this piece noted that he very clearly gave the role everything. 

Cup magic

The FA Cup run has been a perfect tonic for all of this. Before a ball has been kicked on Sunday, it will have earned Preston North End £460,000 in prize money alone. The gates for home fixtures vs Burnley and now Aston Villa will be significant.

A win on Sunday is another £450,000, and would guarantee £500,000 even in defeat at Wembley. In pure dreamland mode, £1,000,000 awaits the semi-final victors and £2,000,000 in the final.

But it’s less about that for North End fans and more about the idea of having meaningful football to play in the spring – a time when the club’s form invariably drops off as mid-table is secured and the cup competitions have been disregarded almost without thought. 

Adam, who has seldom stopped talking about cup runs on the podcast he co-hosts with George, said: “The FA Cup is often seen as a distraction to many North End fans, but not to me. There is a certain romance to the competition and despite the big club’s best efforts, I’ll always cherish it. It’s an opportunity to lose yourself in the feelings you associate with getting hooked on football in your childhood years, a nice contrast to the often mundane league campaign. 

“A semi final would mean everything. Glory and success is always relative and an FA Cup last four would constitute as such for PNE.”

Chris Black, editor of The Nose Bag fanzine, is less poetic. He said: “We’ve all seen teams like Chesterfield, Millwall, Cardiff have their day in the sun. It’s about time us poor suffering North Enders had something to cheer. 

“And it’d be nice to have a season go past April.”

The Villains of the story

North End have recent history with Aston Villa and the majority of it can be reflected on fondly.

Champions League winner Roberto Di Matteo was given his marching orders after an Autumn 2-0 defeat at Deepdale in 2016. £50,000 for Daniel Johnson to make 336 appearances. Callum Robinson helping to make up the club’s last truly fantastic squad that just missed out on a play-off spot. Cameron Desmond Archer vs Blackpool. Kesler-Hayden’s performances this season being strong enough that Villa could be forgiven for being relieved he can’t start against his parent club. Steve Bruce mimicking Di Matteo in being sacked after playing North End. Cabbages. 

This, truly, is football heritage.

Deepdale is sold out for the FA Cup tie and will be on the BBC again for anyone who didn’t manage to get a ticket. Switch it on early enough and you’ll spot George!

Steph points to the efforts of PNE Online ahead of the game as an example of the club’s fans doing the right things.

“There have been some really good movements via PNE Online organising flags and they’ve gone to town with their plans for the Villa game,” she said.

“The fans will be turning up, it’s a sell out and they’re pulling out all the stops to make it a hostile environment for the away team but I don’t want the occasion to get to them.”

George, meanwhile, is looking forward to the buzz around Deepdale.

He said: “Reaching the semi-final at Wembley would be unbelievable; it’s not something anyone would’ve even considered this year. 

“Genuinely big days have been in short supply over the last decade. As tough as Sunday will be, there should be an incredible buzz around Deepdale.”

In North End’s favour on Sunday will be Aston Villa’s disappointing form away from home in the league, a disappointing league season overall, a sold out Deepdale and the sense that victory will mean quite a bit more here than it would for a team with one eye on PSG and the Champions League. 

Working against them is the small matter of a team that has actually reached the Champions League quarter final. 

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