Saints are taking around 5,500 fans up to Deepdale on Saturday, assuming that all ticket holders turn up, given our only visit in the last 18 years was an evening fixture two years ago, most won't have visited the ground before, here is all the information you will need.

The Stadium

Deepdale is one of those grounds that has been completely rebuilt over the years and there are those that have been there in the past who could not really say they have been there now, as it might be in the same place but nothing now remains from the past, theyrebuild having started in 1995 and ending in 2008.

Outside the stadium is a statue of Preston legend Tom Finney and if you don't know who he is then you should google him.

It's current capacity is around 23,400, although attendances this season have varied depending on the opposition and the numbers they bring and have been between 15-19,000.

Getting There

By Car

Leave M6 at Junction 31 and take the A59 towards Preston. Go up a steep hill and follow the road down to a mini roundabout (note the speed camera by the BP garage on the left).

At the roundabout with the Hesketh Arms turn right into Blackpool Road. Go straight on over three sets of lights and just before a fourth set, the ground appears set slightly back on the left.

Parking is mainly in the streets surrounding the ground. There is some parking available at the ground itself, but at a cost of £12.50 per car.

Nearby across Sir Tom Finney Way (behind the Main Stand) is another car park which costs £7.

Post Code for SAT NAV: PR1 6RU

By Train

Preston Railway Station is around a mile and a half from the ground and takes around twenty five minutes to walk.

The Away Section

Away fans are housed in the Bill Shankly Kop, Preston are not one of those clubs who restrict away numbers, so although half this end at 3,000 tickets is the norm, sometimes this is increased to the whole end and 6,000, as mentioned earlier we have sold around 5,500 for this fixture.

The view from the stand is superb and it has a steep camber, underneath the concourses are spacious and serve the usual fare at cheaper prices than stadiums in the South or indeed the Premier League.

The speciality is the Butter Pie, a normal pie but with a filling of very buttery mashed potato and onion. apparently there is a flag at the top of the Invincibles Stand that reads ‘True Prestonians Love a Butter Pie!’

Pubs Etc

Being a stadium that is a fair walk from the town centre there is not a great deal in the way of pubs near the ground, but there is St Gregory’s Catholic Club, which is around a five minute walk away on Blackpool Road. The Club allows entry for a charge of £1, but offers reasonably priced drinks, hot pies, plus has Sky television. You can also park at the Club at a cost of £3.

Secondly, there is the Moor Park Sports and Social Club, situated around ten minutes walk away from Deepdale, at the junction of Blackpool Road and Garstang Road across from Moor Park (PR1 6AD). Parking is available at the Club at a cost of £3 per car and non-members are admitted free into the club on matchdays.

Around a 15 minute walk away on Watling Street Road to the North of the away end is the White Hart pub, which allows in away fans and has a big capacity.

Quirky Facts About Preston

1. Preston is only 10.5 miles from Blackburn, but their most hated rivals are Blackpool who are 16.5 miles away. Likewise Blackburn's rivals are Burnley who are 12 miles away, however both Preston & Blackpool can get up a head of steam against each other from time to time.

2. Preston is an old Mill Town, and these all had what were called Wakes Weeks, this was when the all the town's Mills would shut down for a week and the workers would go on holiday.

With so many Mill Towns in the Lancashire area North of Manchester , these week had to be staggered, One week, Blackpool would be swarming with workers from Blackburn, and the following week, it would be filled with workers from Oldham.

Workers and their families would embark on their annual summer journey, travelling by train to popular resorts like Southport, Morecambe, and Blackpool, leaving their hometown streets almost deserted. For many families, this would be their first 7 subsequently only encounter with the sea.

3. Famous people from Preston include, Cricketer Freddie Flintoff who is arguably the most famous person in the modern era to come from Preston. Famous opera singer, Russell Watson, John Inman (1935–2007), actor, famous for his role as Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served?.Mark Lawrenson (born 1957), TV presenter, footballer and pundit was born in Penwortham, just south of the city centre.

Sir Tom Finney (1922–2014), footballer, played 433 games for Preston North End and 76 for England. He was awarded the Freedom of the City in 1979

4. It is possible to see the Blackpool Tower from some areas of Preston, but this isn't really one of their own attractions.

Other Attractions Include
British Commercial Vehicle Museum located in the nearby town of Leyland, just south of the city, the museum displays antiquarian buses, early fire engines and other historical and commercial vehicles produced by the British manufacturing industry.

Another attraction in Leyland that should not be glossed over is the Leyland Paints Museum, it does what it says on the tin and is a fascinating history of paint from it's invention in a cave in the neolithic age to the modern era. Having visited it with a friend of mine who is a Policeman, I get quite emulsional about the day when I had a brush with the law. I might of course be making all this up.

5. Dick, Kerr's Ladies, one of the successful early women's football teams in Britain, called Preston home, starting in 1917. They were one of the first ladies teams to play an international match against an overseas side when they played against a team from Paris in the spring of 1920. They played a series of matches in the north west of England, and at Stamford Bridge, London. The opening match of the tour was played at Deepdale, the home of Preston North End, in front of 25,000 spectators, a record for the ground at that time.

6. Preston had a population of 147,835 at the 2021 census,[3] the City of Preston district 156,411 in 2023[4] and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322

7. The right to hold a Guild Merchant was conferred by King Henry II upon the burgesses of Preston in a charter of 1179; the associated Preston Guild is a civic celebration held every 20 years, the last being in 2012. It is the only guild still celebrated in the UK.

8. The 19th century saw a transformation in Preston from a small market town to a much larger industrial one. The innovations of the latter half of the previous century, such as Richard Arkwright's water frame (invented in Preston), brought cotton mills to many northern English towns. With industrialisation came examples of both oppression and enlightenment.

9. Preston was the first English town outside London to be lit by gas. The Preston Gas Company was established in 1815 by, amongst others, a Catholic priest: Rev. Joseph "Daddy" Dunn of the Society of Jesus. The Preston and Wigan Railway arrived in 1838, shortly afterwards renamed the North Union Railway. The Sheffield firm of Thos. W. Ward Ltd opened a ship breaking yard at Preston Dock in 1894.

10. During the Preston Strike of 1842 on Saturday 13 August 1842, when a group of cotton workers demonstrated against the poor conditions in the town's mills. The Riot Act was read and armed troops corralled the demonstrators in front of the Corn Exchange on Lune Street. Shots were fired and four of the demonstrators were killed.

Funnily enough those who lived in Blackpool have not tried to claim it was a actually a strike at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and that Mill workers from Preston travelled to the town and crossed picket lines to ensure that the Pepsi Big One continued to operate during the strike.

Deepdale
Capacity: 23,404 (all seated)
Address: Sir Tom Finney Way, Preston, PR1 6RU
Telephone: 0344 856 1964
Ticket Office: 0344 856 1966
Pitch Size: 110 x 77 yards
Pitch Type: Grass
Club Nickname: The Lilywhites
Year Ground Opened: 1875*

All Photos Via Reuters