Preston North End Press View: PNE dream of Premier League still alive

Preston’s boss Alex Neil reckons the Championship is getting harder year on year.
Could Deepdale host Premier League football in the near future?Could Deepdale host Premier League football in the near future?
Could Deepdale host Premier League football in the near future?

That’s a statement which will not be music to the ears of the ‘long-suffering’ PNE diehards who dream of just one season at English football’s top table.

Just the sheer volume of games and the size of the clubs in the Championship means that anybody winning promotion – no matter the size of the budget – has performed a monumental effort over the course of the nine-month season.

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Admittedly money does make a huge difference when it comes to the nitty gritty and it’s fair to say that year on year, the financial stakes continue to rise, even in the second tier.

It means that if North End were to finally win that place in the Premier League, it would arguably go down as a fairytale story – even in spite of the club’s illustrious history in the dim and dark past.

Just a glance at some of the names which will make up the Championship next season and you get a good understanding of the task North End face each year.

Okay, I know football existed well before 1992 and Preston have enjoyed plenty of seasons in the top flight during their history, but they are one of only five clubs – out of 24 – who have never sampled the modern day monster that is the Premier League.

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Can you name the others? Bristol City are one, Brentford, Millwall and Luton Town make up the quartet.

Curiously despite rising from non-league in recent years, the Hatters missed out on featuring in the inaugural Premier League by a matter of months. They were relegated at the end of the 1992 First Division season and then plummeted down the divisions before their recent revival.

The other two promoted clubs from League One – Barnsley and Charlton Athletic – have of course sampled life in the Premier League.

The Addicks enjoyed 12 unbroken years in the top flight from 1995 to 2007.

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The Tykes are the only team in next year’s Championship who have only spent one season in the Premier League.

An the other end of the scale there are plenty of big clubs – who at one time or other – have become what you could call established Premier League clubs

Unsurprisingly as former winners of the division, neighbours Blackburn Rovers are the team with the most seasons spent in the Premier League.

They enjoyed 18 seasons at the top table and are closely followed by Middlesbrough with 15.

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Fulham have enjoyed 14 seasons in the Premier League, with Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion next on the list with 12.

Then you have clubs such as Stoke City, Birmingham City, Derby County, Wigan Athletic and Queens Park Rangers, who have enjoyed plenty of campaigns in the division above.

As an illustration of how difficult the Championship is, big clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest have spent nigh on two decades outside of the top flight.

But the Championship does throw up a fairytale story every now and then – and who knows, maybe it will be PNE’s turn next season.

In Alex Neil they have someone who has past 
experience of leading a club to the Championship – so here’s hoping.