Deepdale

Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End F.C.

This article is about the English football stadium. For other uses, see Deepdale (disambiguation).

Deepdale Stadium
Deepdale Stadium
Location in Preston
Full nameDeepdale Stadium
LocationSir Tom Finney Way, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 6RU, England
Coordinates53°46′20″N 2°41′17″W
OwnerPreston North End F.C.
OperatorPreston North End F.C.
Capacity23,404[1]
Field size110 by 75 yards (101 m × 69 m)[2]
Construction
Built1875
Opened1878 (for PNE)
Tenants
Preston North End F.C. (1878–present)
Lancashire Lynx (1996–2000)

Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world. But like most coveted historic accolades, it is fiercely contested". [3] For example, Maidenhead United F.C. have played at their York Road ground since 1871, but they are not a professional club, unlike Preston North End.

History

The land on which the stadium stands was originally Deepdale Farm. It was leased on 21 January 1875[4] by the town's North End sports club and originally used for cricket and rugby. It hosted its first association football match on 5 October 1878.

Old Deepdale

As football grew in popularity, it became necessary to have raised areas, so the idea of football terracing was formed. In the 1890s Preston built the West Paddock, which ran along the touch line and a tent was erected to house the changing rooms.

By the turn of the century, crowds were regularly over 10,000 and in 1921 they had to expand again. The Spion Kop was built and the West Paddock was extended to meet the Kop end.

The pitch was removed to allow the building of the Town End, which was completed in 1928 but was destroyed by fire only five years later and had to be rebuilt.

The Pavilion Stand, a relatively small stand of two tiers holding the changing rooms and offices, was built and opened in 1934.

The record league attendance for Preston North End at Deepdale is 42,684 v Arsenal in the First Division, 23 April 1938.[2]

The women's team Dick, Kerr's Ladies also used to played at Deepdale, often beating men's professional teams in front of large crowds.[5]

During the 1960s and 1980s, big changes took place as roofs were placed on the stands, seating was installed and terracing extended.

Plastic pitch

In 1986, Preston North End decided to lay an all-weather pitch to try to generate some extra income for the club by renting the pitch to local teams to play on, to reduce the number of postponed matches as well as enabling the use of the Deepdale pitch as a training ground.

It was one of four football stadiums in the English league to feature a plastic pitch, but this proved to be unpopular with the fans and was finally ripped up in 1994, by which time it was the last remaining plastic pitch in the English league.[6]

Renovation
Deepdale layout

The original plans for the re-developed stadium were inspired by the Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Genoa, Italy.[7]

The regeneration of Deepdale began in 1995 when the old West Stand was demolished to make way for the new £4.4m Sir Tom Finney Stand which includes press areas and restaurants.

The next stand to be developed was the Bill Shankly Kop in 1998, followed by the Alan Kelly Town End in 2001, which replaced the popular Town End terrace. In 2008, a 25-metre screen was also erected on the roof of the Bill Shankly Kop.

The old 'Pavilion' stand, was replaced by the 'Invincibles Pavilion' for the 2008–09 season, named after the Preston North End team of the 1888–89 season who were the first League champions, the first team to complete the League and FA Cup Double, and the only English team to complete a season unbeaten in both League and Cup.[4][8] The Invincibles Pavilion includes a row of executive boxes and a restaurant which overlooks the pitch as well as the Stadium Control Room, PA Box and Big Screen Control Room and an NHS walk-in centre has also been built into the stand.

Deepdale is now an all-seater stadium with a total capacity of 23,404, as follows:[9]

  • Sir Tom Finney Stand: 7,893
  • Bill Shankly Kop: 5,933
  • Alan Kelly Town End: 5,859
  • Invincibles Pavilion: 3,719

Sir Tom Finney statue
The Splash, statue of Sir Tom Finney

Outside the Sir Tom Finney Stand, is a statue of the famous player himself, sculpted by Preston-born sculptor Sardajee Om Puri. The statue, commissioned for Finney's 80th birthday and unveiled in July 2004, was inspired by a photo taken at the Chelsea versus PNE game played at Stamford Bridge, in 1956.[10]

The game was in 1956. There had been a big downpour just before the kick off. The match would not have been played today because there were huge pools of water on the playing surface. I was going past a defender and the ball ran in to a pool of water. It was a fantastic photograph and it won the Sports Photograph of the Year award. The sculpture is a true likeness.

— Sir Tom Finney

International use

Deepdale was used during the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship for three group games and a semi-final.[11][12][13][14]

Deepdale was the venue when the England Under-21s played Iceland in March 2011.[15]

Deepdale was used again at the end of the 2011–12 season to host two England Under-19s Elite Qualifying Round matches against Slovenia and Switzerland.[16]

References
  1. Duncan Adams. "Preston North End FC: Deepdale". Football Ground Guide. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  2. "North End Statistics". Preston North End FC. 3 April 2008. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  3. Ijeh, Ike. "Six stadiums that tell the story of English football". building.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  4. "The History of Preston North End". Preston North End FC. 7 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  5. Hunt, Chris (August 2005). "The Belles of the Ball: Dick Kerr's Ladies". FourFourTwo. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  6. Fletcher, Paul (18 November 2011). "Could artificial pitches be set for a return to Football League?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  7. "Preston North End Ground Guide". 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  8. Taw, Thomas (2006). Football's Twelve Apostles: The Making of The League 1886–1889. p. 17. ISBN 1-905328-09-5.
  9. "Deepdale – Preston North End". Football Ground Guide (FGG). 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  10. "Sir Tom Finney - One of football's all-time greats". LFChistory.net. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  11. "Les Bleues begin in style". UEFA. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  12. "Prinz leads Germany procession". UEFA. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  13. "Positive Norway reap reward". UEFA. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  14. "Grings sparks German joy". UEFA. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  15. "The Under 21s: Season 2010-11". England Football Online. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  16. "The Under 19s: Season 2011-12". England Football Online. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
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