'Proudly British' Falkland Islands man's lifelong love for Preston North End

Patrick Watts was like most other young boys in the school playground.

Kicking a ball around with his mates, he would dream of one day becoming a professional footballer.

Despite growing up in the relatively isolated location of the Falkland Islands in the 1940s and 50s, Watts and his school friends avidly followed English football.

And when he would set-off on a jinking run down the wing before shooting for goal at break time, there was only one man Watts would pretend to be.

The great, late Sir Tom Finney left an indelible mark on the young Watts, so much so that it sparked a lifelong love affair with the great man’s club - the one and only Preston North End.

Living more than 8,000 miles away from Deepdale meant Watts devotion to the Lilywhites has been a labour of love and dedication.

With no live TV streams or on the button Internet updates in those days, the young islander would be forced to wait weeks, even months, to learn in detail about North End fortunes when newspapers would finally be delivered to the remote South Atlantic archipelago.

“Born and brought up in the Falkland Islands and being staunchly and proudly British, I like all other youngsters, soon selected a team to follow,” revealed Watts, who would go on to become a radio presenter and was broadcasting live on the day the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina.

”While many chose the 'big' teams at the time such as Chelsea, Tottenham, Wolves, Arsenal, Manchester United.

“I went for Preston as they had the great Tom Finney in their team and he was my idol.

“Life living in the Falkland Islands growing up was pretty isolated. In my younger days, the only connection was by ship which took five days at least to sail from Montevideo, in Uruguay, to the Falklands and that was only once per month.

“You had to wait for your mail - it would be air mail as far as Uruguay and then it would wait there for the ship to arrive so then it would be brought to the Falklands as sea mail, so even air mail would take quite a long time to get here.

“All the newspapers and the magazines would come via sea and so it would take about a month for them to arrive.

“We did have the BBC World Service so we would rely on that for all our sports news. It was good in a way because it gave you a deeper appreciation of what was going on around the world.”

Interestingly, Watts would not be the only PNE supporter in the Falklands at that time.

The Roman Catholic Minister at St Mary's Church in Stanley - the island’s capital - was a Prestonian called Monsignor James Ireland.

He indulged Watts’ PNE love affair, making sure he received a copy of the Lancashire Evening Post when it finally made it to the shores of the Falkland Islands.

Watts said: “Monsignor James Ireland was a PNE supporter. His sisters lived on Brackenberry Road, in Preston, and sent him the daily edition of the LEP by sea mail.”

Now in his ninth decade, he turns 82 this month, Watts recalls being mesmerised by radio depictions of Finney when he would tune-in to listen to England matches as a boy.

“We would listen to the international games which England would be playing,” revealed Watts.

“Tom Finney would always be playing and he would be quite prominent. There would be Stanley Matthews, Tommy Taylor, Billy Wright- these kind of players.

“When the newspapers would turn up, I would read the reports of the games and it would always seem to be to me that Sir Tom would be the ideal player.

“He could do everything. He could dribble, score goals, head the ball and he was very versatile. I think he played in four positions for England - right wing, inside right, centre forward and left wing.

“I just thought any player who can do that, ‘Gosh they must be some player’.

Watts remembers the 1954 FA Cup final when North End lost 3-2 to West Bromwich Albion at Wembley.

Of course there was the First Division title near miss of 1953 when PNE missed out on being crowned champions of England on goal average after being locked on the same number of points at Arsenal at the top of the table.

However, by the time, he was old enough to travel, Sir Tom had long since retired.

Despite that Watts has lived through all the good times, the band times, the trials and tribulations which comes with being a North Ender over the past 70-plus years or so.

He well remembers the 1964 FA Cup Final when North End, as a second division club, reached Wembley, only to lose once again by the odd goal in five, this time to West Ham United.

It would be another three years before eventually, Watts at the age off 22 got to see his team play live - which was against Charlton Athletic at The Valley in 1967.

He would go to make a pilgrimage to see the Lilywhites play at the historic Deepdale for the very first time a few days later when they hosted Norwich City.

In the PNE team that days there was established stars such as Alan Kelly Senior, George Lyall, Gerry Ingram, Graham Hawkins, Alan Spavin and Ken Knighton

There was also full-back and PNE stalwart George Ross - a man who Watts would become good friends with.

His friendship with Ross all stemmed back to his fellow PNE supporter in the Falklands - Monsignor James Ireland.

“Monsignor was with the British Army in Africa during the Second World War,” Watts revealed.

”On one occasion he was asked to attend to a soldier who was having some severe traumatic difficulties and wished to speak to a Catholic Minister.

“The soldier was Tom Rhuston and ironically he too was from Preston and as a result of this chance meeting, he and Monsignor Ireland remained firm friends ever after.

“Tom Rhuston had two daughters and the eldest, Patricia, married George Ross.

“Needless to say the Monsignor met George and on my first visit to England in 1967, I was privileged to meet George and Patricia and was taken to their home in Fulwood by the two sisters of Monsignor Ireland who had notified of my impending arrival as an avid North End fan.

“Quite incredibly, I was invited by George and Patricia to stay in their home every time I went to watch a North End home game until my return to the Falklands.

“You can't imagine what this meant to me, actually being the guest of a North End player and it cemented my love and support for the Lilywhites.”

While he never got to see Finney play competitively, he did managed to watch him in the flesh during a charity match in London.

He added: “Tom Finney had long retired by 1967 but he still played occasionally for a team called the 'All Stars' which included Stanley Matthew, Billy Wright, John Charles, Ted Ditchburn, Terry Medwin and other former greats.

“By good fortune I saw Sir Tom play one Sunday afternoon for the 'All Stars' against the amateur team Enfield in north London.

“As far as I can recall the money was being given to the Tottenham player Maurice Norman who had broken his leg in a game.

“Tom scored a couple of goals and made a couple for John Charles in a 5-1 win. “

Despite being a PNE fan for 72 years, Watts has never actually seen his club play live in the top division - something he would dearly love to change.

From following the club during Finney’s era, to the darkest depth of the Fourth Division in the 1980s, to the rise back up to the Championship in recent times, Watts has always ensured North End’s result is the first one he looks for.

Indeed, he has made many trips to the UK in that time to watch his team.

“When North End were relegated in 1960 I did not ever anticipate that some 66 years later I would still be waiting for them to return to the top flight!

“But I have never given up on supporting the team - even in those dark Fourth Division days. “