Preston North End Quiz
Free Preston North End quiz with explained answers — the 1888-89 Invincibles, Finney's Splash, Mutch's 1938 penalty and Beckford's Wembley hat-trick.
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easy
Alongside 'the Invincibles', which nickname is Preston North End known by?
WhyPreston have traditionally worn white shirts with blue shorts at home, hence the Lilywhites. -
easy
David Moyes left Preston in March 2002 to become manager of which club?
WhyMoyes left for Goodison Park on 14 March 2002, four years after his promotion from Preston centre-half to manager. -
medium
In March 2007 David Nugent became the first Preston player since Tom Finney to play for England, scoring on his debut. Who were England playing?
WhyNugent came off the bench in Barcelona and tapped in England's third goal deep into the game against Andorra. That July Preston sold him to Portsmouth for a then club-record £6m. -
medium
Simon Grayson, who led Preston to promotion at Wembley in 2015, left in June 2017 to manage which club?
WhyGrayson moved to Sunderland after two eleventh-place Championship finishes. Alex Neil replaced him at Deepdale in July 2017. -
hard
Tom Clarke scored a late winner against Blackpool on only his second Preston appearance in August 2013. Which club had released him that summer?
WhyClarke had been at Huddersfield Town for eight years. He went on to make 211 league appearances for Preston before joining Salford City in 2020. -
medium
Preston reached the 1994 fourth-tier play-off final at Wembley but lost 4-2. Who beat them?
WhyMartin O'Neill's Wycombe won the final at Wembley, their first season in the Football League. -
medium
Which Manchester United youngster scored twice in five appearances on a month-long loan at Preston in 1995?
WhyDavid Beckham's loan under Gary Peters helped Preston to a fifth-place finish in the old fourth tier. -
hard
Preston's 1995-96 Third Division title made them the third club to win all four professional divisions. Which two clubs did it first?
WhyWolves completed the set in 1988 and Burnley in 1992; Sheffield United and Portsmouth joined the list in 2017. -
medium
Deepdale's Town End stand, opened in 2001, is named after which goalkeeper, who as of the end of the 2025-26 season was Preston's record appearance maker?
WhyIrish international Alan Kelly Sr. kept goal for Preston from 1961 to 1973, including the 1964 cup final, and later managed the club. -
medium
Who replaced David Moyes as Preston manager in 2002?
WhyFormer Scotland boss Craig Brown took over before the 2001-02 season ended and stayed until August 2004, when his first-team coach Billy Davies succeeded him. -
hard
Bobby Charlton quit as Preston manager in 1975 in protest at defender John Bird being sold to which club?
WhyCharlton fell out with the board over Bird's transfer to Newcastle early in 1975-76; his player-coach briefly took over, then resigned in solidarity. -
medium
When Bobby Charlton became Preston manager in 1973, which fellow 1966 World Cup winner did he bring in as player-coach?
WhyCharlton recruited his old Manchester United and England teammate Nobby Stiles, who later managed Preston himself from 1977 to 1981. -
medium
Paul Simpson signed defender Sean St Ledger for Preston in July 2006. Which club did St Ledger join from?
WhySt Ledger cost an initial £225,000 from Peterborough United, where he had appeared in Sky's Big Ron Manager. He left for Leicester City in 2011. -
hard
Who scored the last-minute extra-time penalty that won Preston the 1938 FA Cup final?
WhyMutch was fouled by Alf Young and smashed the penalty in off the bar with seconds of extra time left, after BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe had promised to eat his hat if anyone scored. -
medium
Preston laid a plastic pitch at Deepdale in 1986. In which year was it ripped up, when it was the last one left in the English league?
WhyThe Football League ordered its removal in summer 1994; Preston's first game back on grass was a 4-0 win over Lincoln City. -
medium
Which former Preston player managed the Second Division side to the 1964 FA Cup final?
WhyJimmy Milne, who played for Preston from 1932 to 1939, led the club to the 1964 final and third place in the Second Division that season. -
hard
In 1979 Preston sold which young striker to Manchester City for a then club-record fee?
WhyMichael Robinson joined Malcolm Allison's Manchester City in August 1979 for a fee of around £750,000, a huge sum for a player with no First Division experience. -
medium
Which Preston striker finished the 2014-15 League One regular season as the division's top scorer, with 25 goals?
WhyJoe Garner went into the play-offs as League One's leading scorer and set up one of the goals in the 4-0 final win over Swindon. -
medium
A year after losing the 2005 play-off final, Billy Davies' Preston were knocked out in the 2006 Championship play-off semi-finals. Who beat them?
WhyLeeds won 3-1 on aggregate, taking the second leg 2-0 at Deepdale. Preston had finished fourth, their best second-tier finish since 1964. -
hard
In September 2010 Darren Ferguson's Preston came from 4-1 down to win 6-4 at which club's ground?
WhyThe comeback came at Elland Road. Ferguson called it "an amazing game", but he was sacked that December with Preston bottom of the Championship. -
medium
After loan spells at Deepdale, Callum Robinson joined Preston permanently in July 2016 from which club?
WhyRobinson came through the Aston Villa academy. He left Preston for Sheffield United in 2019 after scoring 40 goals for the club in all competitions. -
medium
In June 2006, after taking Preston to two Championship play-offs in a row, Billy Davies left to manage which club?
WhyDavies moved to Derby County and was replaced at Deepdale by Carlisle manager Paul Simpson. -
hard
Which Preston manager had generous amounts of sand spread along the flanks of Deepdale's plastic pitch?
WhyJohn Beck, appointed in December 1992, was known for controversial long-ball tactics and doctored the plastic surface to suit them. -
medium
Alan Browne, who went on to make more than 400 appearances for Preston, joined in January 2014 from which League of Ireland club?
WhyBrowne signed from his home-city club Cork City and later came on as a substitute in the 2015 play-off final win over Swindon. -
medium
David Moyes' Preston lost the 2001 First Division play-off final 3-0 at the Millennium Stadium. Who beat them?
WhySam Allardyce's Bolton won through goals from Gareth Farrelly, Michael Ricketts and Ricardo Gardner. Preston had beaten Birmingham on penalties in the semi-final. -
hard
Preston led twice in the 1964 FA Cup final. Doug Holden scored one of their goals; who scored the other?
WhyHolden struck after 10 minutes and Alex Dawson after 40, but Ronnie Boyce's 90th-minute header won it for West Ham. -
medium
Tom Finney's only FA Cup final ended in a 3-2 defeat for Preston in 1954. Who beat them?
WhyPreston led 2-1 through Angus Morrison and Charlie Wayman, but West Brom came back with a penalty and a late Frank Griffin winner. -
medium
In 1952 Preston's board rejected a lucrative offer for Tom Finney from which Italian club, keeping him at Deepdale?
WhyPalermo offered Finney a £10,000 signing-on fee, wages, a villa and a car, but chairman Nat Buck refused to let him go. -
hard
Which Preston player came on at Ipswich in November 2018, scored a free-kick with his first touch, and then went in goal after Chris Maxwell was sent off?
WhyPaul Gallagher curled in a low free-kick with his first touch, then kept goal for the last 20 minutes or so as Preston held on for a 1-1 draw. In January 2020 the fans voted him the club's player of the decade. -
medium
Billy Davies' Preston lost the 2005 Championship play-off final 1-0 to West Ham in Cardiff. Who scored the only goal?
WhyBobby Zamora finished Matthew Etherington's cross in the 57th minute, his fourth goal in three play-off games, to send West Ham back to the Premier League. -
medium
'The Splash', the Tom Finney statue outside Deepdale, recreates a famous 1956 photograph taken at which ground?
WhySculpted by Peter Hodgkinson and unveiled in 2004, it is based on a photo of Finney skipping through a waterlogged Stamford Bridge in a 1956 game against Chelsea. -
hard
Which striker scored 22 league goals as David Moyes' Preston won the 1999-2000 Second Division title?
WhyJon Macken, signed from Manchester United by Gary Peters, led the line as Preston returned to the second tier after 19 seasons away. -
easy
The National Football Museum opened at Deepdale in 2001. To which city did it later relocate?
WhyFunded as part of the Baxi-era rebuild of Deepdale, the museum closed in 2010 and reopened in Manchester in 2012. -
easy
Howard Kendall became the youngest player in a Wembley FA Cup final with Preston in 1964. Which club did he join from Preston in 1967?
WhyKendall moved to Goodison Park for £85,000 in March 1967 and formed the 'Holy Trinity' midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey. -
hard
Preston's hat-trick scorer in the 2015 League One play-off final was on loan at the time. Which club was he on loan from?
WhyHe had been on loan from Bolton since November 2014. Bolton released him that summer and he signed a two-year deal at Deepdale. -
easy
Preston beat Swindon Town 4-0 in the 2015 League One play-off final at Wembley. Which Preston player scored a hat-trick that day?
WhyJermaine Beckford scored after 3, 44 and 57 minutes, with Paul Huntington adding the other goal, as Simon Grayson's side finally won promotion through the play-offs. -
hard
Preston's 1888-89 Invincibles won the FA Cup without conceding a goal. Which club did they beat 3-0 in the final?
WhyBeating Wolves 3-0 in the final completed English football's first League and FA Cup Double.
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About Preston North End
Preston North End answer to two nicknames, and both tell you something. The Lilywhites comes from the kit, traditionally white shirts with blue shorts at home. The Invincibles comes from 1888-89, when Preston won the FA Cup without conceding a goal, beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 in the final and completed English football's first League and FA Cup Double. The second FA Cup took almost half a century and arrived with seconds to spare. The 1938 final against Huddersfield Town was into the last seconds of extra time, with BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe had promised to eat his hat if anyone scored, when George Mutch was brought down by Alf Young. Mutch took the penalty himself and smashed it in off the bar, and the hat was in trouble.
Then came Tom Finney. In 1952 Palermo offered him a £10,000 signing-on fee, wages, a villa and a car to move to Sicily, and chairman Nat Buck refused to let him go. His only FA Cup final, in 1954, slipped away: Preston led West Bromwich Albion 2-1 through Angus Morrison and Charlie Wayman, but West Brom levelled from the penalty spot and Frank Griffin won it late, 3-2. The image that lasted was from a game two years later, Finney skipping through the standing water at a soaked Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, and Peter Hodgkinson's statue of it, The Splash, was unveiled outside Deepdale in 2004. Ten years after the West Brom final Preston were back at Wembley as a Second Division side under Jimmy Milne, who had played for the club from 1932 to 1939. Howard Kendall became the youngest player in a Wembley FA Cup final, Alan Kelly kept goal, and Preston led West Ham United twice, through Doug Holden after ten minutes and Alex Dawson after 40, before Ronnie Boyce headed the winner in the 90th minute. Kendall left for Everton in March 1967 for £85,000; Kelly stayed until 1973, later managed the club, and as of the end of the 2025-26 season was still Preston's record appearance maker, with the Town End stand, opened in 2001, carrying his name.
Bobby Charlton took over as manager in 1973 and brought in his old Manchester United and England teammate Nobby Stiles as player-coach. Charlton walked out early in 1975-76 in protest at defender John Bird being sold to Newcastle United, and Stiles, after briefly taking charge, resigned in solidarity. He was back as manager in 1977 and won promotion from the Third Division in his first season, with Roy Tunks in goal and Alex Bruce and Mike Elwiss up front, and in August 1979 sold the young striker Michael Robinson to Malcolm Allison's Manchester City for around £750,000, a club record. A plastic pitch went down at Deepdale in 1986, and John Beck, appointed in December 1992, had sand spread along its flanks to suit his long-ball game. His side reached the 1994 fourth-tier play-off final and lost 4-2 to Martin O'Neill's Wycombe Wanderers; that summer the Football League ordered the surface out, the last plastic pitch left in the English league, and Preston marked the return to grass with a 4-0 win over Lincoln City. In 1995 a Manchester United youngster called David Beckham scored twice in five games on a month's loan under Gary Peters, and the 1995-96 Third Division title made Preston only the third club, after Wolves in 1988 and Burnley in 1992, to have won all four divisions of the professional league.
David Moyes, promoted from centre-half to manager in 1998, won the Second Division in 1999-2000 with 22 league goals from Jon Macken, taking Preston back to the second tier after 19 seasons away. A year later they beat Birmingham City on penalties in the play-off semi-final and lost the final 3-0 to Sam Allardyce's Bolton Wanderers at the Millennium Stadium, and on 14 March 2002 Moyes left for Everton. Craig Brown followed, then his first-team coach Billy Davies, whose side lost the 2005 Championship play-off final in Cardiff to a Bobby Zamora goal for West Ham and went out to Leeds United in the 2006 semi-finals after finishing fourth, the club's best second-tier finish since 1964. In March 2007 David Nugent became the first Preston player since Finney to play for England, scoring against Andorra on his debut in Barcelona. The promotion finally came through the play-offs in 2015 under Simon Grayson: Joe Garner went in as League One's top scorer with 25 goals, and Jermaine Beckford, on loan from Bolton, scored a hat-trick as Swindon Town were beaten 4-0 at Wembley. Every answer here explains itself.
Preston North End quiz answers, explained
Every question from the quiz above. Play it first; each answer stays folded until you open it.
Alongside 'the Invincibles', which nickname is Preston North End known by?
Show answer
The Lilywhites. Preston have traditionally worn white shirts with blue shorts at home, hence the Lilywhites.
David Moyes left Preston in March 2002 to become manager of which club?
Show answer
Everton. Moyes left for Goodison Park on 14 March 2002, four years after his promotion from Preston centre-half to manager.
In March 2007 David Nugent became the first Preston player since Tom Finney to play for England, scoring on his debut. Who were England playing?
Show answer
Andorra. Nugent came off the bench in Barcelona and tapped in England's third goal deep into the game against Andorra. That July Preston sold him to Portsmouth for a then club-record £6m.
Simon Grayson, who led Preston to promotion at Wembley in 2015, left in June 2017 to manage which club?
Show answer
Sunderland. Grayson moved to Sunderland after two eleventh-place Championship finishes. Alex Neil replaced him at Deepdale in July 2017.
Tom Clarke scored a late winner against Blackpool on only his second Preston appearance in August 2013. Which club had released him that summer?
Show answer
Huddersfield Town. Clarke had been at Huddersfield Town for eight years. He went on to make 211 league appearances for Preston before joining Salford City in 2020.
Preston reached the 1994 fourth-tier play-off final at Wembley but lost 4-2. Who beat them?
Show answer
Wycombe Wanderers. Martin O'Neill's Wycombe won the final at Wembley, their first season in the Football League.
Which Manchester United youngster scored twice in five appearances on a month-long loan at Preston in 1995?
Show answer
David Beckham. David Beckham's loan under Gary Peters helped Preston to a fifth-place finish in the old fourth tier.
Preston's 1995-96 Third Division title made them the third club to win all four professional divisions. Which two clubs did it first?
Show answer
Wolves and Burnley. Wolves completed the set in 1988 and Burnley in 1992; Sheffield United and Portsmouth joined the list in 2017.
Deepdale's Town End stand, opened in 2001, is named after which goalkeeper, who as of the end of the 2025-26 season was Preston's record appearance maker?
Show answer
Alan Kelly. Irish international Alan Kelly Sr. kept goal for Preston from 1961 to 1973, including the 1964 cup final, and later managed the club.
Who replaced David Moyes as Preston manager in 2002?
Show answer
Craig Brown. Former Scotland boss Craig Brown took over before the 2001-02 season ended and stayed until August 2004, when his first-team coach Billy Davies succeeded him.
Bobby Charlton quit as Preston manager in 1975 in protest at defender John Bird being sold to which club?
Show answer
Newcastle United. Charlton fell out with the board over Bird's transfer to Newcastle early in 1975-76; his player-coach briefly took over, then resigned in solidarity.
When Bobby Charlton became Preston manager in 1973, which fellow 1966 World Cup winner did he bring in as player-coach?
Show answer
Nobby Stiles. Charlton recruited his old Manchester United and England teammate Nobby Stiles, who later managed Preston himself from 1977 to 1981.
Paul Simpson signed defender Sean St Ledger for Preston in July 2006. Which club did St Ledger join from?
Show answer
Peterborough United. St Ledger cost an initial £225,000 from Peterborough United, where he had appeared in Sky's Big Ron Manager. He left for Leicester City in 2011.
Who scored the last-minute extra-time penalty that won Preston the 1938 FA Cup final?
Show answer
George Mutch. Mutch was fouled by Alf Young and smashed the penalty in off the bar with seconds of extra time left, after BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe had promised to eat his hat if anyone scored.
Preston laid a plastic pitch at Deepdale in 1986. In which year was it ripped up, when it was the last one left in the English league?
Show answer
1994. The Football League ordered its removal in summer 1994; Preston's first game back on grass was a 4-0 win over Lincoln City.
Which former Preston player managed the Second Division side to the 1964 FA Cup final?
Show answer
Jimmy Milne. Jimmy Milne, who played for Preston from 1932 to 1939, led the club to the 1964 final and third place in the Second Division that season.
In 1979 Preston sold which young striker to Manchester City for a then club-record fee?
Show answer
Michael Robinson. Michael Robinson joined Malcolm Allison's Manchester City in August 1979 for a fee of around £750,000, a huge sum for a player with no First Division experience.
Which Preston striker finished the 2014-15 League One regular season as the division's top scorer, with 25 goals?
Show answer
Joe Garner. Joe Garner went into the play-offs as League One's leading scorer and set up one of the goals in the 4-0 final win over Swindon.
A year after losing the 2005 play-off final, Billy Davies' Preston were knocked out in the 2006 Championship play-off semi-finals. Who beat them?
Show answer
Leeds United. Leeds won 3-1 on aggregate, taking the second leg 2-0 at Deepdale. Preston had finished fourth, their best second-tier finish since 1964.
In September 2010 Darren Ferguson's Preston came from 4-1 down to win 6-4 at which club's ground?
Show answer
Leeds United. The comeback came at Elland Road. Ferguson called it "an amazing game", but he was sacked that December with Preston bottom of the Championship.
After loan spells at Deepdale, Callum Robinson joined Preston permanently in July 2016 from which club?
Show answer
Aston Villa. Robinson came through the Aston Villa academy. He left Preston for Sheffield United in 2019 after scoring 40 goals for the club in all competitions.
In June 2006, after taking Preston to two Championship play-offs in a row, Billy Davies left to manage which club?
Show answer
Derby County. Davies moved to Derby County and was replaced at Deepdale by Carlisle manager Paul Simpson.
Which Preston manager had generous amounts of sand spread along the flanks of Deepdale's plastic pitch?
Show answer
John Beck. John Beck, appointed in December 1992, was known for controversial long-ball tactics and doctored the plastic surface to suit them.
Alan Browne, who went on to make more than 400 appearances for Preston, joined in January 2014 from which League of Ireland club?
Show answer
Cork City. Browne signed from his home-city club Cork City and later came on as a substitute in the 2015 play-off final win over Swindon.
David Moyes' Preston lost the 2001 First Division play-off final 3-0 at the Millennium Stadium. Who beat them?
Show answer
Bolton Wanderers. Sam Allardyce's Bolton won through goals from Gareth Farrelly, Michael Ricketts and Ricardo Gardner. Preston had beaten Birmingham on penalties in the semi-final.
Preston led twice in the 1964 FA Cup final. Doug Holden scored one of their goals; who scored the other?
Show answer
Alex Dawson. Holden struck after 10 minutes and Alex Dawson after 40, but Ronnie Boyce's 90th-minute header won it for West Ham.
Tom Finney's only FA Cup final ended in a 3-2 defeat for Preston in 1954. Who beat them?
Show answer
West Bromwich Albion. Preston led 2-1 through Angus Morrison and Charlie Wayman, but West Brom came back with a penalty and a late Frank Griffin winner.
In 1952 Preston's board rejected a lucrative offer for Tom Finney from which Italian club, keeping him at Deepdale?
Show answer
Palermo. Palermo offered Finney a £10,000 signing-on fee, wages, a villa and a car, but chairman Nat Buck refused to let him go.
Which Preston player came on at Ipswich in November 2018, scored a free-kick with his first touch, and then went in goal after Chris Maxwell was sent off?
Show answer
Paul Gallagher. Paul Gallagher curled in a low free-kick with his first touch, then kept goal for the last 20 minutes or so as Preston held on for a 1-1 draw. In January 2020 the fans voted him the club's player of the decade.
Billy Davies' Preston lost the 2005 Championship play-off final 1-0 to West Ham in Cardiff. Who scored the only goal?
Show answer
Bobby Zamora. Bobby Zamora finished Matthew Etherington's cross in the 57th minute, his fourth goal in three play-off games, to send West Ham back to the Premier League.
'The Splash', the Tom Finney statue outside Deepdale, recreates a famous 1956 photograph taken at which ground?
Show answer
Stamford Bridge. Sculpted by Peter Hodgkinson and unveiled in 2004, it is based on a photo of Finney skipping through a waterlogged Stamford Bridge in a 1956 game against Chelsea.
Which striker scored 22 league goals as David Moyes' Preston won the 1999-2000 Second Division title?
Show answer
Jon Macken. Jon Macken, signed from Manchester United by Gary Peters, led the line as Preston returned to the second tier after 19 seasons away.
The National Football Museum opened at Deepdale in 2001. To which city did it later relocate?
Show answer
Manchester. Funded as part of the Baxi-era rebuild of Deepdale, the museum closed in 2010 and reopened in Manchester in 2012.
Howard Kendall became the youngest player in a Wembley FA Cup final with Preston in 1964. Which club did he join from Preston in 1967?
Show answer
Everton. Kendall moved to Goodison Park for £85,000 in March 1967 and formed the 'Holy Trinity' midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey.
Preston's hat-trick scorer in the 2015 League One play-off final was on loan at the time. Which club was he on loan from?
Show answer
Bolton Wanderers. He had been on loan from Bolton since November 2014. Bolton released him that summer and he signed a two-year deal at Deepdale.
Preston beat Swindon Town 4-0 in the 2015 League One play-off final at Wembley. Which Preston player scored a hat-trick that day?
Show answer
Jermaine Beckford. Jermaine Beckford scored after 3, 44 and 57 minutes, with Paul Huntington adding the other goal, as Simon Grayson's side finally won promotion through the play-offs.
Preston's 1888-89 Invincibles won the FA Cup without conceding a goal. Which club did they beat 3-0 in the final?
Show answer
Wolverhampton Wanderers. Beating Wolves 3-0 in the final completed English football's first League and FA Cup Double.
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