Ex-Preston North End man's admission around sudden 2021 transfer to Middlesbrough
The ex-Preston, Celtic and Rotherham United defender called time on his career in 2023
Former Preston North End defender Darnell Fisher admits he never wanted to leave the club in January 2021.
The full-back was the first signing of the Alex Neil era, back in the summer of 2017. Fisher made himself a regular in the PNE XI and went on to rack up 119 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring one goal and assisting 11.
His eventual departure to Middlesbrough came out of the blue, with the attention at the time having been on the contract situations of Alan Browne, Ben Pearson, Ben Davies and Daniel Johnson.
In the end, a reported £300,000 to Boro went through and Fisher played 13 games for the Teesside club, before suffering a knee injury which would end his career. The former Celtic man was forced to retire in October 2023.
Fisher had not looked back on his North End career until last weekend. The 31-year-old was on co-commentary duty for iFollow PNE at Queens Park Rangers. Post-match, he reflected on his time at the club and how strong that particular team was.
"Yeah, 100 per cent," Fisher told PNE Pod. "I think that (determination and spirit) came from Alex Neil as well. He made us like that in a sense, but he had all the boys in the dressing room playing how we played.
“Being horrible to play against, in your face and all like that. We had a great group, a really good group. We were just maybe missing that £5million striker but again, the club was in the financial position it was in.
“We just missed something like that. I loved my time at Preston, I really did. I wanted to stay; I didn't want to leave. I was really happy at Preston, I loved my time at Preston and played some of my best football at Preston."
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