| Tony Paley on PNE's incredible win over Leeds The amazing 6-4 victory at Leeds was a rare sweet spot after nearly half a century in the doldrums for the fallen giantsForget England's 44 years of hurt - for Preston North End fans you can add another five years to that figure. Sir Tom Finney's retirement in 1960 resulted in immediate relegation the following year from the old Division One and it's fair to say the fans have been suffering ever since as the club have failed to return to the top flight.Which makes last night's extraordinary goings on at Elland Road all the more sweet as days like that, or of course nights, are rare for a club which has struggled for so long while so many of its neighbouring north-west teams have prospered.Even the hated Blackpool are now having their day in the sun, which made the ignominy of North End's slip to the bottom of the Championship last Friday night when Portsmouth stuck six past Leicester City all the more galling.This season started pretty much how the last campaign ended and the manager Darren Ferguson wasn't doing any better with the team he had put together over the summer. After Preston had lost 4-3 to Burnley on the BBC earlier this month – having led 3-1 till eight minutes to go – I texted a number of friends to say: 'I am retiring from football for now.'This morning I am back in love with the game after an evening few North End fans will forget. 'Where were you when we beat Leeds at 6-4 Elland Road?' is the hot topic on the pne-online website. It's not surprising as last night was the first time any team had put six past Leeds on their home turf while only ancient Preston fans would remember the last time the team scored six on their travels – at Blackpool in 1955 when that man Finney scored.There were tales, maybe apocryphal, of supporters getting in their cars when their team went 4-1 down to Leeds. Me? I was on the bus on the way home from work for the first-half following the match on the Sky Sports app, getting home resigned to another thumping. And then in the kitchen having given up, before joining my son in the sitting room as we listened to the commentary and watched a bewildered Iain Dowie report on the match on Sky.Dowie managed to get the score wrong once which he can be forgiven for but he did say when Leeds were 4-1 up that North End were attacking like crazy and creating chances. That they did was mainly thanks to Jon Parkin, the Beast as he is affectionately known.Parkin, the subject of much ribald comment from opposing supporters, weighs in around the 14 stone mark and when he joined the club a photograph of him in a kebab shop was widely circulated on the fans' websites. "Feed the Beast and he will score" has become the Lilywhites followers' motto though and that was certainly the case last night, his third and Preston's fifth a trademark chest down and volley.His hat-trick laid the foundations but the contribution of loan signing Iain Hume, who got the sixth, was equally as significant according to those who were there.Ferguson said when he arrived in January this year that his teams would play entertaining football. The problem has been that much of that entertainment has been laid on for the opposing fans thanks to a porous defence. At 6-4 with 20 minutes to go last night I was still fearing that they might lose.The manager will be hoping that he can get injured Manchester United loanees Joshua King and Matt James back as soon as possible to supplement the back-to-form Parkin and lively Hume. After that who knows what might happen?The Championship is a mad league this season. High-flying Watford won 6-1 at Millwall last week, then beat Middlesbrough 3-1 but were 3-0 down at home to Swansea last night. Who is going to go up and down is anyone's guess.Meanwhile, my two sons and I are travelling to Deepdale on Saturday where we will be able to buy the DVD of last night's game at the club shop and then watch Preston play Reading. What odds a 0-0 draw?Preston North EndChampionshipTony Paleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Panathinaikos v FC Copenhagen: match preview Follow match preview of the Champions League Group D match between Panathinaikos and FC Copenhagen at the Athens Olympic Stadium on Wednesday Sept 29 2010, kick-off 19.45 BST. telegraph.co.uk |
Rooney denies United's 'injury' claims Manchester United star Wayne Rooney is set for a collision with Sir Alex Ferguson, saying he has been injury-free all season. foxsports.com.au |
Dark days descend on Dundee The danger attached in letting one man control the fate of a football club is under the spotlight again as cuts faced by the Scottish First Division side are bluntly spelled outThe recently published and excellent book In Search of Alan Gilzean offers a rare insight into a man whose legendary status at Dundee and Tottenham Hotspur has been overshadowed by a reclusive lifestyle. It also gives a timely reminder of the period when honours were shared around Scottish football to a far greater extent than they are now.The author, James Morgan, worked tirelessly in tracking down surviving members of Dundee's championship-winning team of 1962. This was a side who won 5-1 at Ibrox, with Gilzean claiming four of the visitors' goals.There is a cruel irony attached to the fact that Morgan's fine work has hit the shelves at a time when Dundee supporters are at yet another dark juncture. Today, confirmation that the club has fully entered administration will arrive, complete with the job losses that such a scenario entails. The manager Gordon Chisholm and his assistant BillyDodds were among the first to be sacked. Interested onlookers are entitled to question, and in a bullish manner, how on earth it has come to this.For Dundee were in the hands of an administrator seven years ago, after a speculate-to-accumulate policy went wildly wrong. So wrong, in fact, that debts were reported as high as £20m after the club splashed out on the likes of Claudio Caniggia and Fabrizio Ravanelli.Only a tenth of that figure is owed this time – and none of it to the bank – but Dundee still entered territory which they should have known to avoid. Calum Melville, a multimillionaire, appeared at Dens Park as a benefactor last year and has since bestowed about £1.5m on the club.As Melville arrived and conducted transfer dealings on his own, the strict business plan, to which Dundee had stuck after escaping administration first time around, essentially disappeared. As SPL teams struggle for cash, First Division Dundee could pay £300,000 to sign Leigh Griffiths from Livingston, handing the young striker the relative fortune in Scottish League terms of £1,800 a week. Melville never, though, completed a deal to buy Dens Park and, in doing so, returning it to Dundee's own control.What has followed is the latest example of the dangers attached when one man, or one company, controls the fate of a football club. Whether Melville is unwilling or unable to continually fund Dundee is unclear, but what is known is that no agreement could be reached over payment of a £365,000 tax bill, which triggered this disastrous situation. All of a sudden, contracts signed by players and staff in good faith will prove to be worthless.The cuts announced this afternoon will be harsh, with youth team players likely to be required so Dundee can fulfil their season's fixtures. Even within that scenario there can be no guarantees, with funding urgently required simply to keep the club operating as a business. The administrator, Bryan Jackson, has ominously described keeping Dundee alive as the toughest challenge he has ever faced.As ever, those who will suffer are supporters. Even if Dundee's historical status as one of Scotland's "big" clubs counts for nothing today, their followers hardly deserve another harrowing time on account of bad management.The prospect of relegation cannot be discounted or, at the very least, a points deduction; either sanction would have a detrimental effect on crowds, and therefore income streams. Some form of punishment is essential so that other clubs have a warning not to follow Dundee's dubious example, but one which leads to more turmoil for fans and whatever players are left at the club – who have done no wrong themselves – is unfair in its own way.The notion that Dundee could ever return to their position of 1962 has long-since been a fanciful one. Nonetheless, it is patently sad that they have regressed into the state which will be bluntly spelled out at Dens Park this afternoon. Even more worrying for the Scottish game generally is that too many other clubs are teetering, close to a similar position.DundeeEwan Murrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Liverpool takeover: NESV boss John W Henry vows to keep fighting to defeat Tom Hicks NESV owner vows to fight Tom Hicks' "last desperate attempt" to hang on to club with lawyers due to return to Dallas Court at 1pm. telegraph.co.uk |