Preston North End man opens up on difficult period in his life as Sheffield Wednesday key role highlighted
The defender has been at Deepdale since 2018
Jordan Storey’s first match after signing a new Preston North End contract was far from ideal. Fresh from extending his deal until 2028 - which could see the defender spend a decade at Deepdale - he felt ‘horrendous’ during the New Year’s Day away clash at West Brom. The sickness bug eased off in the next game against Oxford United and, back feeling fine now, Storey is in a better place to reflect on that new contract. Security and clarity are absolutely welcomed but the number 14 has one clear goal now.
“Yeah, obviously it's nice to know I'm here for three years,” Storey told the Lancashire Post. “But again, you want to do something within those years and not make it a total waste of time. As nice as it has been, being here for seven years, you still want to look back and realise that you've achieved something at the club - rather than just being here for a set amount of time and not actually doing anything. So that's certainly on my mind, that I do want to achieve something here.
“I think maybe the team and Preston in general has been guilty of just being a mid-table team. But I think the whole stance on that is changing. I think there is a lot more of a belief here. Even if you look back at the past couple of seasons, we've been really pushing for it. Then, obviously, the final five games have let us down. I feel like there's a lot more belief in the team this year. We've just got too much quality here to be sitting mid-table, so I'm hoping that time will finally come.”
Signed from Exeter City in the summer of 2018 the centre-back has gone on to make 219 appearances for Preston - scoring six goals. Lancashire is a long old way from his home county of Somerset but finding another one has been a big positive of his time so far at PNE.
“Yeah, it was tough when I first moved up here,” said Storey. “It's a big old trip, to be fair, four hours away from home! I did really struggle with it. I didn't really imagine myself being here for that long, to be honest with you. I thought I'd eventually just end up moving closer to the south, gradually. But yeah, I've really enjoyed it here. I've met some fantastic people and some of my closest mates up here - the vast majority of people I've encountered have been really nice. I've loved every minute of it. I wouldn't have signed if I wasn't as happy off the pitch as I am on it. So that's been a key factor as well.”
Storey is an honest interviewee and doesn’t shy away from the difficulties he has encountered over the years while at Preston. In January 2022 he was loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday, who were in League One at the time. Although the Owls suffered play-off heartbreak those few months were positive on an individual note for Storey - who returned to North End in the summer and regained his place. Since then he has been a regular in the XI; there was doubt as to where that’d happen for him mind.
“Yeah, to be fair, when I went there it was a real awakening call,” said Storey. “Fair play to Lowey. He sort of made me realise what I actually needed to do to get my career back on track. Once I had a good spell there, and as good as it was there, I always wanted to come back here and prove myself again. I feel like I did do that, so it was nice for me to get my career back on track here. Because there were times where I thought: ‘I've blown it now and it probably won't work out’. But yeah, thankfully I knuckled down.”
“Really got that desire back”
Earlier in the press conference the 27-year-old had touched on periods where he struggled to enjoy his football. The time before heading to Wednesday for that important loan spell would fall into that category, along with others when he started to question his future with the Lilywhites. Not everything was related to the sport though, as Storey explains.
“Yeah, lots of things were happening,” said Storey. “There was a lot of stuff off the pitch where I just sort of wasn’t enjoying football as much. I probably just didn't really know where I was going with my life in general, to be honest. It was just a bit all over the place. As frustrating as it was going out on loan. because every player thinks they should be playing at the club, it was the best thing for me. So, credit to him (Ryan Lowe) for doing that because he really got that desire back into me to go prove him wrong and to come back into the team.”
Fast forwarding to the present and Storey has a familiar new face in camp, with Lewis Gibson having joined North End this month from Plymouth Argyle. The defensive duo were at Hillsborough at the same time and Storey was happy to see the signing announced.
“We briefly played at Wednesday for a bit,” said Storey. “So yeah, I know him a little bit. He's a good lad, to be fair. He's a nice, friendly lad and obviously he's got a lot of quality. I feel like he'll bring a lot of his qualities to the team and I'm sure he will be really good here. Everyone needs competition.
“It's only going to benefit the team at the end of the day because sometimes, when you don't have enough competition there, you know you're going to play week in, week out regardless of how bad you play. So again, it's really good that someone like him can come in and help push the defence even more.”