New PNE keeper Anders aims for a happy stay

The Danish goalkeeper will make his PNE debut against Derby County tonight.

It should signal the start of a regular run of football for Lindegaard, something he has not had for a long time.

His last league game was for Manchester United in April 2014, while he only started once for West Bromwich Albion – in the Capital One Cup – after a summer move to the Hawthorns.

So his keenness to drop a division to the Championship is understandable.

Lindegaard said: “Coming to Preston was a very good solution compared to the situation I was in.

“The last few years of my career haven’t been the best.

“I have really missed playing and have slowly grown into being unhappy with what I do.

“For me, it is very important that whatever you do, whether you are a footballer, a schoolteacher or whatever, you love what you do.

“I obviously love playing football but I haven’t been allowed to do that for the last few years.

“It has been very difficult, even though I might sound like an over-privileged brat saying it like that.

“I very much appreciate it when I am playing, the recognition you get when you are playing football is enormous.

“When you haven’t got that, you can go into a state of mind where you don’t want to be.

“So already with this move to Preston, I feel more energised and feel a lot better as a human being.

“I’m looking forward to the Derby game and to a lot more first-team football.

“I don’t know if I’ll be nervous for the game, I have tried a few things in my career to know that you should play the game and not the occasion.

“The last few days here have been good, I’ve had a bit more time to prepare.

“Looking at how things are usually timed at this time of the year, it probably couldn’t have worked out better.

“I’ve had a few days to learn the names and get to know the lads as footballers.

“There were a couple of other opportunities on the table as well, which looking from the outside, were interesting ones.

“But I didn’t want to risk ending-up in the same situation, while my family are also happy living on the south side of Manchester which suits this move.

“The most important things was to come out and play football, try to find that happiness.”

Lindegaard kicked-off his career with OB Odense in Denmark before moving to join Norwegian club Aalesund.

It was his form there which earned him a £3.5m move to United five years ago.

But in his time at Old Trafford, he made only 29 appearances – mainly due to the form of David de Gea.

Lindegaard will be the fifth goalkeeper to pull on the gloves for North End in the last few weeks.

It was a stable position until the end of December, with Jordan Pickford playing all 27 games – the one blip being when he was sent-off against Leeds, a red card which was later rescinded on appeal.

Pickford’s recall by Sunderland saw Sam Johnstone signed on a 28-day loan from Manchester United.

He played four games, with Chris Kirkland deputising for the FA Cup tie at Peterborough.

West Bromwich have loaned out Lindegaard now that they have Ben Foster back from injury to compete with Boaz Myhill for the No.1 shirt at the Hawthorns.

Lindegaard admits the move to Albion – he joined at the end of August – had not worked out the way he wanted.

The 31-year-old said: “For various reasons, it didn’t work.

“Boaz Myhill played very well while I was there, while I had a couple of niggles too.

“But mainly Boaz did well and there was never really the opportunity to go and knock on the manager’s door to say he should be playing me.

“I’m enjoying it already here, I have trained with Chirk Kirkland who seems a positive and happy guy.

“Alan Kelly has been really good, he’s made a good impression on me.

“I had already heard before I came here that he was a good goalkeeper coach and a good buy too.

“That is what I have since I came in last week.

“To be honest, I have got a good impression of the whole club – it is the people who make a club and the people here have been fantastic.”

Lindegaard, of course, knows plenty about Johnstone, the keeper whose gloves he will be filling at North End.

“I met Sam on the first day I came to England and joined United,” he said.

“For nearly five years I worked with him and Sam is a good guy.