A Guide to… Preston North End

General Information

Year Founded: 1881
Status: Professional
Reputation: National
Chairman Status: Loves the club
Icons: David Nugent, David Moyes, Sean Gregan
Favoured Personnel: Matt Hill, Mark Rankine, Mick Rathbone
Fierce Rivals: Blackpool, Burnley
Other Rivals: Leeds, Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton
Finances: Secure
Estimated Value: £10.25m
Stadium: Deepdale, Preston
Stadium Capacity: 20,100 all seater
Pitch Dimensions: Length: 101m, Width: 69m
Max Pitch Dimensions: Length: 107m, Width 76m
Training Facilities: Good training facilities
Youth Facilities: Average youth facilities
Continental Competition: None
Media Prediction: 16th
Squad Personality: Determined
Affiliate Clubs: Bury, Everton

Preston North End play in Football League Championship.

Finances

Transfer budget: £1m
Balance: £4.83m
Total wage budget: £83.61k P/w
Current wage budget: £70.83k

These are an average set of finances for the Championship and the transfer budget should allow you to bring in a few quality players.

Full Squad

Captain: Paul McKenna
Vice Captain: Callum Davidson

Overview

Preston have been associated with a number of legends throughout their history. The include Sir Tom Finney and Bill Shankly. The club have not experienced top flight success for a long time now however they are a quality team. They won successive promotions from the Third Division (CocaCola League 2) to the First Division (CocaCola Championship) and the club has reached 2 play-off finals since 2001 and has missed out closely on promotion.
They won the top flight in English football back in 1889 and 1890 and they finished runners up in another 6 seasons. They also have a history in the FA cup, winning it in 1889 and 1938.

Expectations

The board have a minimum expectation of you to finish safely with a mid table position in the Championship this season. With regards to the first season I would recommend that you tell the board you can that you can achieve a top half finish as the squad is definitely capable of this. This will increase your transfer budget to £1.2m and increase your wage budget by approximately £4k. This goes against the media prediction but it would be good to prove them wrong.

Goalkeepers

At the start of the season you have two goalkeepers capable of playing at Championship level. These are Andy Lonergan and Wayne Henderson. At first Wayne is injured for between a month and two months and therefore if Andy got injured you may be struggling. Andy is the better of the two keepers however they are both very similar in standard so I would keep an eye on who’s improving the most. They are both young keepers at the age of 24 and therefore they have a long career ahead of them. If you do need back up and don’t sign a goalkeeper Chris Neal would be the third best to bring in form the reserves.

Best Goalkeeper: Andy Lonergan

Defenders

The Preston first team squad contains 6 or 7 defenders spread fairly evenly between the different positions. First at right back the choice is between Billy Jones, Sean St Ledger and Michael Hart. As I would preferably play Sean and Billy elsewhere it leaves us with Michael to slot in at right back. They are 3 top quality defenders who are all great players at Championship level. At Centre back, you have the options of Billy Jones, Sean St Ledger, Youl Mawene, Neal Trotman and Liam Chilvers. Michael Hart is also an option however we have used him at right back. So from the 5 defenders I mentioned I would pick St Ledger and Mawene. I have said this as again I believe Billy to be a better option in the centre of midfield. Liam is injured at the start of the season and I believe he would come in as your third choice centre back. Trotman is still very young and as there is plenty of cover it may be an idea to send him out on loan. At left back the choices are Callum Davidson and Billy Jones and Ross Wallace. First choice would be Callum Davidson as he is a player with plenty of experience who offers a lot to the side. Billy Jones and Ross Wallace will provide good back up for this position however they are best used as midfield players.

Best Defender: Billy Jones/Sean St Ledger

Midfielders

The MR options are Chris Sedgwick, Barry Nicholson and Simon Whaley. I would suggest playing Nicholson on the wing to start out with and then choose to have another one as back up. Between Simon and Chris it is a very close call to make as they are two very evenly matched players as whilst Chris may edge out Simon on technical attributes, Simon’s pace leaves Chris for dead so this may well be a personal choice depending upon you how to wish the players. At MC the available players are: Billy Jones, Richard Chaplow, Paul McKenna, Barry Nicholson and Darren Carter. The starting pair would be Billy Jones as he is the best MC in the squad despite also being the best DR and DC. Alongside him would be the more experienced player in the form of McKenna who has only one area that lets him down being his pace and acceleration unfortunately. On the bench for this position would be Richard Chaplow who narrowly misses out on a start but may well move to edge McKenna out of the side over the course of the season if he applies himself well in training or when he comes in covering for injured players. Over on the left wing we have the choice of Lewis Neal, Darren Carter and Ross Wallace. Ross is by far the best player in this department and would be a brilliant asset to any Championship side. The other two would be best for back up, probably Darren Carter being the next best choice.

Best Midfielder: Billy Jones/Paul McKenna

Strikers

The available strikers are Chris Brown, Jon Parkin, Neil Mellor, Steven Elliot, Brett Ormerod and Karl Hawley. There is quite a variety of strikers to choose from here. However, I would play Neil Mellor alongside Chris Brown at first. They are the two best strikers in the squad and they still have chance to improve. As third choice, I would bring on Steven Elliot who is quicker and would be better running at tired defences. I also believe that Jon Parkin is the only other striker who would be worth a place in the team. He is not a great player at this level, however he will do a job if required. Karl Hawley and Brett Ormerod are not up to the level this league requires and I would therefore offload them or put them in the reserves.

Best Striker: Neil Mellor.

Recommended Starting 11

GK – Andy Lonergan
DR – Michael Hart
DL – Callum Davidson
DC – Sean St Ledger
DC – Youl Mawene
MR – Barry Nicholson/Chris Sedgewick
ML – Ross Wallace
MC – Billy Jones
MC – Paul McKenna
SC – Neil Mellor
SC – Chris Brown

This is a solid team that should perform well in the Championship and with a few choice buys can easily win promotion to the Premiership.

Recommended Sales

Lewis Neal – 150k

Not really going to get a chance in the first team and it would be best to sell him on and free up the wage bill. Best as a League 1 player.

Brett Ormerod -150k

Getting on now and is not in the top few strikers at the club. It would be best to cash in and boost your transfer budget further.

Karl Hawley – 150k

Not up to Championship level really. Can get a fair amount of money for him and it would be better than leaving him to rot in the reserves.

Jason Jarrett – 100k

Plenty of competition in the centre of the park and therefore I feel it would be best to get rid of Jason. He’s in his prime but isn’t going to add anything extra to our squad.

Joe Anyinsah – 50k

A young player who unfortunately I don’t think he’ll ever make a Championship standard, Would be better letting him go and get some money in for him.

Recommended Buys

Ian Walker – GK – £160k – £3,700 p/w – Bolton Reserves

I think cover is needed in goal. Ian Walker is a lot better than Andy Lonergan and so I think he would be a great addition to the squad in this key position.

Ben Burgess – ST £90k – £3,700 p/w

Burgess is a striker who is a great player at Championship level. He would be a good extra option as back up to your front two and when required he would be able to do the job.

Don Cowie – AMRC – Inverness – £900k – £2,200p/w

Would be a good addition to the midfield and would probably start ahead of Barry Nicholson.

Helguson – ST- On loan from Bolton – £7,000 p/w (80%)

Helguson would be a good signing to help out up front when there is a lack of goals. He is quickly snapped up though so you would have to move fast to have a chance of signing him.

Tactics

I play a flat 4-4-2 with my Preston team. I don’t think a narrow formation would suit them as this would take away the benefits of having quality wingers like Ross Wallace. A 4-4-2 allows the team build upon a solid base and make use of the quality Preston have in midfield.

I allow the dull backs to make forward runs as both of them, especially Callum Davidson is a good player going forward. This will add strength to attacks and should not weaken our defence too much, unless hit on the counter attack where we might be more at risk.

The two centre back have more defensive runs. This ensures that we don’t commit too many men forward when attacking. Also, they are not the best players going forward and therefore it is best to focus them on their strengths which is defending.

Team Instructions

The above graphic shows the team instructions I have selected for this tactic. I have set the team up so that they are going to focus more on attacking rather than defending. This is by giving the team a more attacking mentality we should create more up front and therefore, with a bit of quality finishing, score more goals. Also, we should be able to put the opposition under pressure by doing this.

I have selected a passing style which is mixed but focuses mostly on short passing. The players have the ability to pass the ball well and we might as well take advantage of this. It will also help us to keep possession giving us more time and more chances to create goal scoring opportunities.

Again, I have instructed the team to get the ball quite wide. This will get the wingers into play and give us an extra outlet when needed. Ross Wallace is a great player to give the ball to as he has the ability to put in a great ball and cause trouble for opposition defences.

I have also asked the team to close down in most areas of the pitch. This limits the amount of time the opposition has on the ball, meaning that they should be more prone to making mistakes. The fitness of the players should be good enough to do this job.

I have also set the team to man marking. This is more of a preference as neither are likely going to make too much difference. The squad is fairly good at marking on the whole so they should be able to cope with both styles. I have also requested players to mark tightly. This limits the amount of space the opposition gets and should work in our favour. I have used a play maker with this tactic, Ross Wallace. This is because he is a great player at this level and is a good creative player.