So when people jump to conclusions that this football historian, writer, programme collector and fount of all Preston North End knowledge is bound to be a bit of a car-coated Roy Cropper figure, a knowing smile breaks out as he shakes his head in disagreement.#

"I'm not really like that," he insists as we talk during a tea break at his day job with the Rigby family window blinds business.

"In fact I'm not like that at all. I'm just passionate about this football club. Always have been, always will be.

"Just because I've spent more than 40 years collecting programmes, photographs and millions of pieces of information about North End doesn't make me some kind of trainspotter. Does it?

"Still, what others think has never really bothered me – each to his own."
Rigby, 57, was always destined to have a close relationship with PNE.
He was born up the road at Sharoe Green Hospital.

And significantly all four homes he has lived in during his life have been within a one-mile radius of the Deepdale stadium.

His mother Polly and Auntie Millie were both diehard fans and were responsible for getting him hooked.

Little Ian used to sneak in to games 15 minutes from time when the exit gates were thrown open.

He spent school holidays hiding in the bushes at the Willow Farm training ground watching his heroes honing their skills.

Now he can use the front door at North End wearing his latest hat as secretary of the club's Former Players' Association – a task he admits has practically taken over his life since the group was formed 10 years ago.

"Considering I'd got details of every player to ever kick a ball for Preston since the club was founded in 1880, they thought I was perfect for the job," he explained.

"I can't believe how much work there is to do. But it's a labour of love.

"Same with being a historian for North End – I wouldn't do it if I didn't get such a buzz from it."

A far cry from almost half-a-century ago when Ian and his pals would wait for the gates to open at 4.30pm before dashing on to the terraces to catch the last throes of the game for free.

"I can't actually remember the first full match I went to," he said.
"I was actually a late starter because I was about 11 when I got my first season ticket.

"I used to go with mum and Auntie Millie...they were the keen ones in the family. I think I only ever went with my dad a couple of times.

"It was about 1962 when I first started. And I think it was Auntie Millie who treated me to my first season ticket.

"Before that we used to nick in for nothing. And we'd sneak into the training ground up at Willow Farm – until Jimmy Milne chased us off.

"It was really the 1963/64 season that got me hooked, with the FA Cup final and very nearly getting promoted as well. It was an exciting time. A lot of fans were attracted to Deepdale that season and some of us have kept going on ever since.

"It made such an impression on me that I've only missed three home games in the 44 years since. Two of those were through illness and the other to go to a wedding.

"Mind you, it wasn't me getting married – I made sure our wedding was in the close season!"

The passion for collecting programmes could be laid at his aunt's door as well.

She worked at the local infirmary and would pick up spare programmes from a batch handed out to patients listening to hospital radio's match coverage on a Saturday afternoon.

"She used to bring one home for me and I also used to pick the odd one up off the floor on the terraces. If North End had lost, people would just chuck them away.

"But the thing that really got me hooked was when mum and dad came home from the pub one day and gave me a set of eight programmes that a bloke had given them from Preston's 1958 tour of South Africa.

"They were extremely rare back then, never mind now. You can't get hold of them for love nor money."

Rigby is not sure exactly how many PNE programmes he now has in his collection. "Thousands, certainly," he said.

"I've got them all since 1946, every single one of them. But I've also got a lot before then, including all the cup finals Preston have played in.

"Some are worth quite a bit of money and needless to say they are stored in a safe place.

"I've been very lucky over the years putting my collection together.

"When the Evening Post's Walter Pilkington died, his son auctioned off all his stuff and I got quite a bit of it for a reasonable price, including a load of photographs.

"Then there was the occasion I got a phone call from a chap who was emigrating to the United States and had four programmes to sell. I hadn't got any of them.

"They were all pre-war cup finals and so I borrowed £100 from mum and went down to see him thinking I would at least try and buy one of them.

"But he was so taken by my enthusiasm and my knowledge of the club that he let me have all four of them for £100.

"One was the 1922 final which is now worth about £2,000.
"Then there was the 1938 final which we won – and it was signed by the North End team. That is worth £1,000.

"Collecting programmes has become a real passion for me. It's been my hobby and I think we all need a hobby."

Rigby's collection of programmes and other memorabilia like cup final tickets led him down the path of researching the history of his beloved club.

Now he is an accepted authority on all things PNE, having co-written two books on the club.

His 'Loud and Proud' history written with fellow enthusiast Mike Payne charts every season since that memorable birth of the Football League in 1888/89 when the mighty Invincibles went unbeaten to win the league and cup double.

"The first edition was completely sold out," he said.
"And when we updated it for a second issue it sold 3,000.

"That book gave me a huge thrill. It is a book I would have loved to have bought years ago when I first started charting Preston's history.
"I must admit, it would have been a great help."

Ian's thirst for knowledge was awakened in 1981 when North End celebrated their centenary and he was asked by the club if he could identify exactly when the first game had been.

"Derek Allen was the secretary then and he just asked, out of interest, when the game had been because the club had no real records of their own.

"They were saying it was 1881 – a good seven years before the Football League was formed. But I found it to be even further back in 1879.

"Preston was still a rugby club in those days and they became a football club in May, 1880.

"I discovered there were at least seven games in 1880 and one of those was their first ever Lancashire Cup tie.

"Yet even today everyone talks about the club having kicked off in 1881. That bugs me a bit.

"But then, for a stickler for detail like me, it would wouldn't it?

"I'd hate to think how much of my life has been spent poring over old newspapers checking and cross-checking details about the club.

"But it has been worthwhile because I have records now about every single player who has ever played for the club, even just one game.

"And that has proved valuable in helping relatives track down details about their grandad or great-grandad who once turned out for North End.

"I've loved helping families find out about their ancestors. If an enquiry comes in to PNE then the first port of call is me. I don't mind, I love helping.

"Just one example that I found quite rewarding was last year when I got an enquiry from a family trying to find out about their great-grandad.

"They said they thought he had played for Preston and was it true?
"I was able to tell them that, yes it was.

"He was captain when the club won the Second Division Championship in the early 1900s. I told them he had moved to play for Cardiff and after that had taken a pub. They were very grateful.

"Then the following week I got another call from a lady in Wales who was trying to track down details of her great-grandad who played for Preston. It was the same bloke, Eddie Holdsworth.

"I was able to tell her about the other family who she didn't know anything about and put them in touch with each other.

"They had a big family reunion and I felt pretty good about that."

One passion Rigby cannot adequately explain is his need to track down PNE players' middle names.

"Don't ask why, I don't know why," he said.
"But for some reason I have to try and find out every player's middle name for the records. And it's not always easy."

A decade ago those records led him down another historical path – the formation of the PNE Former Players' Association.

"The FPA was formed in 1998 and little did I know I would play a major part in creating it," he said.

"The idea sprang from an article in a newspaper which reported Alex Dawson had died. Of course, he hadn't and it started one or two people thinking about how team-mates tend to lose touch.

"We had a meeting and because I had a few addresses I ended up volunteering to be secretary.

"Of course it's a pleasure and a huge honour to be asked, but the workload has become immense.

"We now have 212 members, the latest to join being David Eyres and Stuart Todhunter who, if people don't remember him, was a first-year professional in the 80s.

"We have had members right through from the 1938 FA Cup final. Tom Smith, the captain who lifted the trophy that day at Wembley, was a member before he passed away.

"We have some very famous members including Sir Tom Finney, Tommy Thompson, Tommy Docherty, Nobby Stiles, Alex Dawson, Sam Allardyce and Mark Lawrenson.

"And it's strange to think that players I used to idolise when I first started watching North End I can now count as my friends.

"I couldn't have known all those years ago when I was sneaking into games for the last 15 minutes to watch my heroes that one day I would be mates with them, sitting on the top table at dinners with them.

"But that's how far it has come for me. And I wouldn't change a thing.
"People can think what they want about 'anoraks' and 'stattos' but how many of them would love to be in my position? I reckon most of them."