Where Ben Whiteman feels he is at in his career after 'consistent' sixth season at Preston North End
The PNE captain made 43 league appearances over the course of the campaign
Preston North End captain Ben Whiteman was pleased with his own 2025/26 season and now wants to push on.
It was season number six at Deepdale for the number four, who arrived from Doncaster Rovers in January 2021. Whiteman has been captain for the last two campaigns and in total, made 224 appearances for the Lilywhites.
The midfielder’s contract length was not disclosed when he signed fresh terms in January 2024 - simply described as a ‘long-term’ deal. Whether he has one year left to run or two, Whiteman is in no mood to get comfortable in his career.
“Yeah, it's a good question,” Whiteman told the Lancashire Post, when asked where he feels he’s at, having been at Preston for a long time now. “That’s it, you are always striving and you've got to push yourself.
“I think that's the biggest thing for me... thirty this year and yeah, I want to push myself. I have loved it here. I’ve enjoyed my time and yeah, let’s see what the summer brings - looking forward to it.”
Captain proud of his consistency
Reflecting on his year, Whiteman told BBC Lancashire: “I think I've been good. I've been consistent, that's the main thing. Consistency is massive, especially in my position and yeah, a full pre-season massively helped me in that.
“I'd not had a pre-season in two or three years really, so that definitely benefitted me. And especially, bringing the likes of Dobbo and Alfie in the pockets, where you can feed them and they can go and make things happen, that's also helped. So yeah, I think there's been a couple of factors as to why I've had a good season.”