The 2014–15 season was Preston North End's 127th in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. It was their fourth consecutive season in the third tier of

English football Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, following failure to be promoted by play-offs the previous season for the ninth time. The season ended with Preston being promoted to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

via the play-offs, following a 4–0 win over

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

Season overview

In his second summer in charge

Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Indian Super League club Bengaluru. As a player, he was a right back, but he was also utilised in ...

signed 5 players permanently – Jamie Jones,

Calum Woods Calum Jack Woods (born 5 February 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a fullback for Bala Town. Woods previously spent five seasons with Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic before returning to English football with Hudders ...

Jordan Hugill Jordan Thomas Hugill (born 4 June 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Rotherham United. A relative late comer to the professional game, he had spells with non-League sides Seaham Red Star, Consett, W ...

, Andy Little and

Kyel Reid Kyel Romane Reid (born 26 November 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Beaconsfield Town. Career West Ham Born in South London, Reid joined West Ham United in July 2004 and is a product of the West Ham United ...

and brought Paul Gallagher in on a season long loan. Preston also signed Callum Robinson on a two-month youth loan in September and

Jermaine Beckford Jermaine Paul Alexander Beckford (born 9 December 1983) is an English Football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career as a trainee at Chelsea, and played for Wealdstone, Uxbridge, Leeds United, ...

on a season long loan in November. Preston allowed 9 players to leave

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

during the summer, those being Chris Beardsley, Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, Ryan Croasdale,

Graham Cummins Graham Rickard Cummins (born 29 December 1987) is a retired Irish footballer. Playing career Early career Cummins played the majority of his schoolboy football with Tramore Athletic and also had a spell with College Corinthians. Cobh Rambler ...

Iain Hume Iain Edward Hume (born 30 October 1983) is a Canadian football manager and former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He began his career at Tranmere Rovers in 2000, and six years later moved to Leicester City for an initial £5 ...

, John Mousinho, Alex Nicholson,

Nicky Wroe Nicholas "Nicky" Wroe (born 28 September 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently for Boston United. Club career Barnsley Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Wroe came through the youth system of Bar ...

and Stuart Beavon. Preston started the season strongly, winning 2 and drawing 3 of the first five league games of the season. Preston suffered their first league loss of the season, against

Walsall F.C. Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflects ...

in their sixth game of the season. Of their next 8 games, Preston won 7 and drew 1. After their first 14 games, Preston were in 2nd place, on 31 points, two points behind league leaders

Bristol City F.C. Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, but 5 points clear of 3rd place Swindon Town F.C. Preston then went on to lose their next 3 league games, against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, Swindon Town F.C. and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

. In the midst of the league campaign, Preston were involved in 3 separate cup competitions. Preston found success in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

, reaching the Northern section final – losing 2–0 on aggregate to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

. In the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, Preston faced, and defeated

in round 1, before being beaten by

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in the second round. In the opening 3 rounds of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, Preston defeated

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

in the first round,

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in the second and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

in the third round to put them in the hat for a potentially money-spinning trip to a Premier League side in the fourth round of the cup. Meanwhile, in Preston's next 10 games, they won 4, drew 4 and lost 2 – although they did go on a 5 match winless run, culminating in a loss against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

. During this run, Preston also faced

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the

in the fourth Round. They drew 1–1 in the first game, before winning 3–1 in the replay. This set up a fifth round home tie against Manchester United. Following Preston securing a home tie in the

against Manchester United, they went on an 18-game unbeaten run, winning 12 and drawing 6 of those games, including notable wins against promotion rivals

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. ...

and

placed them in prime position for automatic promotion, needing to win against relegation threatened

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on the final day. Preston lost the game 1–0, whilst MK Dons won, meaning that Preston finished the season in 3rd place and were in the play-offs again.

's side had been in the top two since the start of March and had not lost in the league since 31 January. They faced

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

in the semifinals of the playoffs. In the

, Preston lost 3–1 to Manchester United, despite taking the lead through

Scott Laird Scott Benjamin Laird (born 15 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left back and midfielder for Southern League Premier Division South club Weston-super-Mare. He is also the club's assistant manager. Laird began his ...

. That was Preston's only defeat during their unbeaten run between January and May. In the first leg of the playoffs, Preston won 1–0, thanks to a goal from

. In the second leg they won 3–0 thanks to

Joe Garner Joseph Alan Garner (born 12 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Fleetwood Town of EFL League One. Garner started his career with Blackburn Rovers before joining Carlisle United. Garner had a three- ...

's penalty and

's brace. They won the semifinals 4–0 on aggregate and set up a play off final against

. Preston, who had never won in the playoffs in their previous nine appearances – which was a record at the time, beat

4–0 in the play-off final, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

, winning promotion to the

."Preston 4–0 Swindon"
– BBC Sport, 24 May 2015

Squad

Statistics

, - , colspan=14, Players who have left the club:

Play-off appearances

Captains

Goals record

Disciplinary record

Contracts

Transfers

In

Loans in

Out

Loans out

Match details

Pre-season

League One

League table

Matches

Play-offs

FA Cup

League Cup

Football League Trophy

Overall summary

Summary

Score overview

Club staff

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Preston North End F.C. season Preston North End F.C. seasons Preston North End