Preston North End

Preston North End Football Club (often abbreviated to The North End or PNE) is an English professional football club from Preston, Lancashire, whose team currently plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Preston, originally a cricket club, have been based at Deepdale since 1875. The club began playing football in 1878 as a winter fitness activity and decided to concentrate on it in May 1880, when the club was officially founded. Deepdale is now the oldest ground in football in terms of continuous use by a major league club.

Preston North End was a founder member of the Football League in 1888. In the 1888–89 season, the team won the inaugural league championship and the FA Cup, the latter without conceding a goal. They were the first team to achieve a double in English football and, as they were unbeaten in all their matches, they are remembered as "The Invincibles". Preston won the league championship again in 1889–90, but their only major success since then has been their final victory in the 1938 FA Cup over Huddersfield Town. The club's most famous players have been Tom Finney and Bill Shankly, who are commemorated at Deepdale by stands bearing their names. Other notable players include Tommy Docherty, Alan Kelly Sr. and Graham Alexander.

Until 1961, Preston used to be one of the regular teams of the First Division; however, after being relegated at the end of the 1960–61 season, they have yet to return to the top flight. They dropped into the Third Division for the first time after the 1969–70 season and since 1970 have alternated between the three lower divisions, including a spell of 19 seasons from 1981–82 until 1999–2000. Preston have faced serious financial problems and were twice in danger of closure. The club is now owned by the businessman Trevor Hemmings and has been established in the EFL Championship since winning promotion in 2015.