Preston North End won the FA Cup in 1938Preston North End won the FA Cup in 1938
Preston North End won the FA Cup in 1938 | Getty Images
Ross Chapman - @RChapmanSport - writes for the Lancashire Post ahead of Preston North End’s FA Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa
The last time Preston North End were in an FA Cup quarter final, The Walker Brothers were top of the charts, a pint cost half a crown and Sir Alf Ramsey was four months away from leading his England team to World Cup glory.
Six years prior to that, in Sir Tom Finney’s final season at Deepdale, North End faced Aston Villa at the same stage of the competition. Although they were on the losing side that day, it was one of many occasions in which the Lilywhites made it to the latter stages of the cup during that period.
Now, 65 years on, North End will take on the very same opposition in front of a sold-out Deepdale crowd, looking to inspire a new generation of fans. This will be manager Paul Heckingbottom’s second FA Cup quarter final as a manager.
His Sheffield United side progressed to the last eight in 2023 and made a further leap after that, defeating Tottenham Hotspur in the fifth round and then Blackburn Rovers in the last eight, before losing in the semi-finals to Manchester City.
Consistent cup runs have been hard to come by for PNE for some time, having only made it past the fourth round on six occasions since the turn of the millennium. It was in the very decade in which they made their last quarter final appearance that strong FA Cup showings were a regularity.
PNE began the 1961/62 campaign still feeling the after-effects of their relegation from the First Division in the previous season, and the retirement of their greatest ever player. Come the end of it, though, they had embarked on an impressive FA Cup journey.
Entering at the third round stage, North End – then under the guidance of legendary player and manager Jimmy Milne – saw off Third Division Watford, 3-2, before bringing then-Southern Premier League side Weymouth’s historic run to an end, in a 2-0 victory. That was at the second time of asking, as the original game was abandoned due to foggy conditions.
Liverpool, who were Second Division champions that season, were the next task for the Lilywhites. After two 0-0 draws between the sides, a second replay at a neutral venue was required. A 1-0 win at Old Trafford sent them to the quarter final where they faced none other than Manchester United.
Jimmy Milne’s men put in a fine defensive display against their opponents, who went on to finish mid-table in the First Division, and battled to a draw. But in the replay four days later, United ran out 2-1 winners. However, that wouldn’t be the peak of North End or Milne’s cup fortunes that decade, as two years later they made it to the final.
Beating Nottingham Forest of the First Division was their first task on the road to Wembley and it was achieved in a 1-0 replay win at Deepdale, following a goalless draw at the City Ground. A replay settled things again as North End knocked out Bolton Wanderers, another First Division side, in the fourth round and with PNE still in the Second Division, these two ‘cupsets’ would have certainly instilled belief among the Gentry faithful.
Victories over fellow second-tier side Carlisle United, and underdogs Oxford United, followed. Milne’s team had made their way into the last four. They took on the then-named Swansea Town in the semi-final and came from a goal down to beat them 2-1 and book a place at the hallowed turf of Wembley, for the first time in 10 years. Two legendary players in the prolific Alex Dawson and unlikely goalscorer Tony Singleton turned the game around.
Bobby Moore and Nobby Lawton shake hands before the kick off of their FA Cup Final match on 2nd May 1964Bobby Moore and Nobby Lawton shake hands before the kick off of their FA Cup Final match on 2nd May 1964
Bobby Moore and Nobby Lawton shake hands before the kick off of their FA Cup Final match on 2nd May 1964 | Getty Images
West Ham awaited PNE in the final in front of a crowd of 100,000. North End were 2-1 up at the break through Doug Holden and Dawson, however Geoff Hurst equalised in the second half before a crushing late winner for the Hammers courtesy of Ronnie Boyce.
It was a cruel ending to Milne’s best season in charge at Deepdale but they would go again in the cup and have another strong run in ‘66, progressing past Charlton Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur before once again falling to Man United in a replay,
‘One of the biggest games in recent memory’
Many a PNE fan were yet to experience such a cup run prior to this season and, while the Gentry have enjoyed some iconic moments and successes in the years since, Sunday’s clash presents itself as one of the biggest games in recent memory.
To go up against a side who remain well in the running for the Champions League, at this stage of a domestic competition, is something that comes around very rarely. Whatever the result, the atmosphere and emotion within Deepdale at the weekend will surely be relished during the game, and cherished after it.
This Preston North End squad has already done something that hasn’t been managed by any other in 59 years. But you’d be forgiven if the buzz around the city, and the thought of a packed out Deepdale, got you thinking that maybe, just maybe, there’s more to come.
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