Preston North End reporter Dave Seddon bids farewell to the Lancashire Post

After covering 654 Preston North End first-team games, together with numerous pre-season friendlies and reserve matches, the time has come for me to bid farewell to the Lancashire Post.
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I’ve been the LEP’s senior football writer covering PNE’s fortunes for 13 years and it’s been an absolute honour doing the job, following the fortunes of a club I first started watching at the age of four.

All good things must come to an end and a new job awaits me outside of the newspaper industry, a exciting challenge which keeps me in touch with journalism but from a different angle.

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It was in June 2009 that I was offered the job of covering North End, stepping into the shoes of the wonderful wordsmith Brian Ellis who over the years I learned so much from.

Dave Seddon at Barnsley on Gentry Day in AprilDave Seddon at Barnsley on Gentry Day in April
Dave Seddon at Barnsley on Gentry Day in April

I’d sat on the same sportsdesk as Brian from 1998 to 2009, covering the fortunes of Chorley briefly and then for nigh on 11 years, Wigan Athletic.

I inherited the PNE writing job a few weeks after they were beaten in the play-off semi-finals by Sheffield United.

Alan Irvine was the manager at the time, the Scotsman being the first of eight full-time managers and head coaches who would keep me in back pages over 13 years.

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Darren Ferguson, Phil Brown, Graham Westley, Simon Grayson, Alex Neil, Frankie McAvoy and Ryan Lowe have followed.

Team LEP at Wembley for PNE's play-off final victory - Rosie Swarbrick, Craig Salmon and Dave SeddonTeam LEP at Wembley for PNE's play-off final victory - Rosie Swarbrick, Craig Salmon and Dave Seddon
Team LEP at Wembley for PNE's play-off final victory - Rosie Swarbrick, Craig Salmon and Dave Seddon

I got on well with all of them, there were the occasional cross words and difference of opinion with some, but there has been a mutual respect between manager and journalist.

Maybe I’m biased saying this, but I strongly believe football clubs need the local media and vice-versa. National coverage is sparse beyond the Premier League, a token effort at times unless the club has previously been in the top flight.

Irvine was a manager who was sacked ridiculously prematurely in my opinion and set in motion a decline which took some time to recover from.

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I’d sat with him in his office at Springfields on the morning he was dismissed, getting some words in the notebook for the new year period ahead. The office had been cleared by the afternoon.

Preston North End midfielder Paul Coutts with PNE manager Graham Westley during his first pre-match press conference at DeepdalePreston North End midfielder Paul Coutts with PNE manager Graham Westley during his first pre-match press conference at Deepdale
Preston North End midfielder Paul Coutts with PNE manager Graham Westley during his first pre-match press conference at Deepdale

It was an early lesson to me that big stories in football rarely break during normal working hours – Christmas and New Year doesn’t matter.

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Ferguson came in but lasted just a year, he was sacked exactly 12 months on from Irvine.

I covered just one relegation, that the 2010/11 season – one which had Ferguson in charge for the first half and Brown the second.

Simon Grayson with Alan Irvine and Frankie McAvoy when PNE played Norwich in April 2017Simon Grayson with Alan Irvine and Frankie McAvoy when PNE played Norwich in April 2017
Simon Grayson with Alan Irvine and Frankie McAvoy when PNE played Norwich in April 2017
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In the summer ahead of that campaign there had been the change of ownership with Trevor Hemmings taking overall control following the issuing of three winding-up orders from the taxman.

News of the first of those being served broke just as we were getting ready for my daughter’s fourth birthday party – what did I say about football and unsocial/inconvenient timing!

Ferguson gave way to Brown, then Brown to Westley. Now, that was an interesting chapter!

Graham Alexander and David Unsworth held the fort for a few weeks after Brown’s sacking and I was among many who hoped they would land it permanently.

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However, the recently arrived chairman of football Peter Ridsdale lured Westley from Stevenage. Negotiations dragged on and eventually Westley’s unveiling took place on a Saturday morning ahead of a game in the afternoon.

Westley’s first couple of pre-match press conferences were interesting in the sense the player put up for interview, sat next to him. I always remember how uncomfortable Paul Coutts and Adam Barton were as they tried to trot out the usual positive line!

Former Preston North End manager Alex Neil talks to the Lancashire Post's Dave Seddon.Former Preston North End manager Alex Neil talks to the Lancashire Post's Dave Seddon.
Former Preston North End manager Alex Neil talks to the Lancashire Post's Dave Seddon.

We will all have our opinions of Westley. For us journalists it meant longer hours, with Westley liking to do a full debrief with the players who had started a game (never with the substitutes) before coming to do his post-match conference. Three hours was the record.

He wrote a weekly column for the LEP. Now, many newspaper columns of that ilk are ghost written, a reporter ringing up the columnist to have a chat before putting those words into print.

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Westley did it all himself, his copy presented with immaculate spelling and grammar. It made for lively reading on a Friday evening.

Things got rather toxic under Westley towards the end and It was a relief when he went.

Grayson brought normality to Deepdale and was to lead PNE to the one promotion I covered.

A year or so before he did that though, came a time of the utmost sadness as Sir Tom Finney passed away on February 14, 2014.

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I was out for a Valentine’s meal with my wife when I got a text asking if the news were true. The main course was hurriedly finished, we passed on pudding and headed home to write.

Working to pull together all the tributes to Sir Tom was a privilege, the most humble of football legends. Preston mourned and the LEP reflected the feeling in the city – and indeed the football world.

Moving on to May 24, 2015, there was the joy of covering PNE’s play-off final win over Swindon at Wembley. That month was a rollercoaster of emotions.

After being certs for automatic promotion, there was that dreadful afternoon at Colchester when defeat condemned them to the play-offs, the end of season format not having been kind over the years.

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North End picked themselves up and didn’t just end the play-off hoodoo, they smashed it!

It was an enjoyable but tough gig covering the aftermath at Wembley, a late Sunday afternoon kick-off not giving too much time to get copy written before the print deadline that night.

The players naturally wanted to celebrate and it was a while before they started to emerge into the mixed-zone interview area.

Typical too, hat-trick hero Jermaine Beckford had been selected for a random drug test and couldn’t be interviewed until he’d produced his sample!

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After Grayson came Neil, the Scot leading PNE to seventh place in his first season. Neil’s press conferences were the highlight of the week, he was straight forward and gave a great insight into his tactical thinking. Always accompanying him was a cup of coffee with the spoon still in!

Neil was to eventually suffer badly from fans not being in stadiums, post-match Zoom interviews conducted against the competition of pitch mowers, making it hard to get his thoughts across.

His successor McAvoy’s audition was done in front of empty seats and was on a hiding to nothing when grounds filled back up.

Lowe has been a breath of fresh air since coming in last December and it does seem like North End are in the midst of a reboot at the moment.

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The early bird season card offer closed last week with 11,500 fans taking advantage. My son and I are two of them – you didn’t think I could keep away from Deepdale did you?

Thank you for reading my many articles over the years, whether you agreed with them or not. Thank you too for engaging with me on social media, a platform which has drastically changed the dynamics of football reporting.