Former Preston North End favourite Mark Patterson enjoys his memories of Deepdale

What better way to introduce yourself than scoring against not one but two local rivals?

Patterson did just that after signing for North End from Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 1988.

The Lilywhites played Rovers at Ewood Park in pre-season that year.

It might only have been a Manx Cup game but Patterson sliding in at the far post to score the winner sent the PNE fans gathered on the old Darwen End terrace into wild celebration.

A few weeks later in the third league game of the campaign, North End hosted Blackpool on a September afternoon at Deepdale.

Patterson notched the only goal of the game as his new side claimed the bragging rights.

That goal in front of the old Kop was the first of 16 Patterson scored for PNE that season.

Two of them stand out in particular to Patterson, the Blackpool one naturally and his last one that campaign.

That came at Port Vale in the second-leg of the play-off semi-final.

Patterson swept home a fine finish from the edge of the box in the Vale Park clash to bring PNE level at 1-1 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate.

Alas the game was to get away from them in the second half as Vale scored twice to win 3-1.

Patterson’s arrival at PNE was his first move in the game after the Darwen lad’s long association with Blackburn.

“It worked out brilliantly for me, it was a great club to join,” said Patterson.

“That first season I scored 15 or 16 goals, about five of them penalties.

“John McGrath signed me for Preston. I’d played a lot of games at Blackburn but then Don McKay came in as manager and I didn’t eye-to-eye with him. Scott Sellars took my place who was an excellent player.

“Don McKay wanted to sign Ronnie Hildersley from Preston and the chance came for me to go the other way.

“I’m so glad I made the move. I scored in the Manx Cup against Blackburn a few weeks later.

“Then there was the Blackpool goal which was a great way to get me going with the Preston fans.”

Working under McGrath was a great experience for Patterson, McGrath a tough and somewhat unconventional figure.

However, he wanted his sides to play football as PNE fans of the era will recall.

Patterson said: “I got a rollicking from big John when I first went to meet him at Deepdale. My dad came with me and I left him in the car while I went to talk about the move.

“John asked me why I’d come on my own and I told him my dad was in the car.

“He just boomed ‘Well go and get him’. Him and John had a fag together and we got the move sorted. He did offer me a fag but although I smoked at the time, I didn't think it was the best thing to do to accept one.

“John could be a scary fella but he knew how to play the game, the way he played wouldn’t have been out of place in today’s game.

“A couple of weeks after I signed, he absolutely slaughtered me.

“The signing-on fee was tax-free and I expected a few bob of it in my first wages.

“It was a bit short and I asked the people in the office about it. Not long after that, Les Chapman came to the dressing room and said John wanted to see me.

“I went to his office and it was myself, John, Les, Walter Joyce and Fred O’Donohue who had spotted me for Blackburn when I was a kid.

“John ripped into me, saying why had I gone into the office about my money instead of seeing him?

“Looking back, he was breaking me down and re-building me. I was a cocky little so-and-so from Darwen and he wanted that out of me.

“John could be hilarious though, we had a striker called Graham Shaw who wasn’t the biggest lad.

“After one game where he got a bit knocked about, John said to him ‘Shawy, you’re coming to the gym with me next week and I’ll make you look like Arnold Schumacher!

“He meant Arnold Schwarzenegger but John wasn’t the best with names.”

PNE played some great football on their way to a sixth-place finish and a first appearance in the play-offs in May 1989.

“We had a cracking team that season, Brian Mooney was unplayable on the plastic, Tony Ellis scored for fun, Bob Atkins was superb in defence and there was my old mate Mick Rathbone at left-back.

“What let us down was that we didn’t play well on grass away from home.

“On the plastic we were excellent but we struggled a bit in away games. That was our downfall.”

It was the plastic pitch which ultimately led to Paterson leaving PNE in February 1990, going to Bury with Nigel Greenwood coming in exchange.

“I had sciatica to the extent where in the morning I had to lift my leg up to get out of bed,” said Patterson.

“Playing in the plastic pitch was making it worse.

“I spoke with John and he just said I go. That was it but I was always grateful to John for signing me.

“I went on to play for Bury, Bolton and Sheffield United.”

Patterson, 56, reflects on a career which spanned 500 games in his autobiography ‘Old School’.

Written with his friend Kevin O’Hara, it is far from your run-of-the-mill football autobiography.

Patterson, who managed Chorley for a spell, said: “I would sit in the boozer talking about games I’d played in and things that happened and a mate suggested I wrote a book.

“It’s been about six years in the making and it was great sitting down with Kev to do it.

“Recently I’ve been going around my old clubs to give the book a plug.

"Before PNE's game against Fulham, I had a couple of hours at the Moorbrook pub in Preston meeting the fans.

"Then for Ryan Lowe's first game last week, I went in the fanzone at Deepdale. I was in the gazebo bit to start with and then they got me inside for a couple of pints.

"I count myself fortunate to have the career I did, I played nearly 500 games over 19 years, so I had some good stories to tell."

‘Old School’, published by Vertical Editions, is available now priced £11.99.