Alexander returns to Deepdale as Preston search for a lift
1 October 2026 · By James Hartley
Preston North End have turned to a familiar name as they try to arrest a poor start to the Championship season. Graham Alexander was confirmed as manager in late September, returning to Deepdale 14 years after he last played for the club. The 54-year-old replaces Paul Heckingbottom, who was sacked on 13 September after six defeats in the opening seven league games.
Alexander arrives with a long connection to North End. Across two spells as a player he made 372 league appearances for the Lilywhites, and he will be joined in the dugout by his long-term assistant, Chris Lucketti, a former Preston team-mate. Speaking after the appointment, Alexander said it was a special feeling to be named manager and that, after speaking to the club, he knew Deepdale was where he wanted to be. He leaves Bradford City, whom he had taken to fourth in League One last season before a play-off defeat to Bolton, and who had won five of their first seven league games this campaign.
The task in front of him is clear. After eight Championship matches Preston sit 23rd, with four points from one win and one draw, eight goals scored and 15 conceded. They are three points from safety. The club’s statement when Heckingbottom left described football as a results business and said that, despite significant investment in the squad, results in 2026 and at the start of this season had not been acceptable. Heckingbottom, appointed in August 2024, had overseen finishes of 20th and 14th.
There have been flashes of promise. On 5 September Preston beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Deepdale for their first league win of the season. A week later a late Freddie Draper header gave Lincoln City a 1-0 win at Deepdale, a result that brought Heckingbottom’s time to an end, with the final whistle met by boos. Under interim coach Jason Euell, North End then led 2-0 at Queens Park Rangers on 19 September through two goals from Johnny Kenny, only for ten-man QPR to rescue a 2-2 draw through a 90th-minute equaliser from Paul Smyth.
Kenny, signed from Celtic on deadline day, is one of several summer arrivals the new staff will try to knit together. Harry Clarke came from Ipswich, Alfie Devine arrived on a permanent deal from Tottenham, Stan Mills joined from Oxford United and Leo Leroy from Basel, with further additions including Liam Gibbs and Caleb Wiley. Wiley scored a second-half equaliser in the 3-1 home defeat to Bristol City on 1 September before two late goals settled the game.
The international break has given Alexander and Lucketti time on the training ground before a first match in charge. That comes at home to Millwall on Saturday 10 October, which falls on Alexander’s birthday, with a trip to Birmingham City three days later. Whether a returning club legend can turn four points from eight games into a climb away from the bottom three is the question Deepdale will start to answer next weekend.
Deepdale is one of the oldest continuously used league grounds in the world, and still sits on the site Preston North End first occupied in the 1870s. Today it is a compact all-seater stadium of 23,404 on Sir Tom Finney Way, postcode PR1 6RU. For visiting supporters the picture is simple: you are in the Bill Shankly Kop, the steep single-tier stand behind the north goal. Standard Championship allocations run at around 3,000; for bigger followings the club can give you most or all of the 5,933 seats.
The Kop opened in 1998 and is named after the former North End half-back who later built Liverpool. There are no pillars. The rake is sharp, so even mid-tier seats feel close to the pitch and the roof carries noise well. Wheelchair spaces exist at pitch level and in elevated bays; book those through your own club. Away turnstiles and the away ticket office sit on this side of the ground. Coaches are usually directed to the dedicated away coach park next to the Kop.
Opposite you is the Alan Kelly Town End, the traditional home end behind the south goal and named after the club’s record appearance-making goalkeeper. Down the west touchline runs the largest stand, the Sir Tom Finney Stand (7,893), which holds the press box, hospitality and the famous Splash statue outside. Facing it on the east side is the narrower Invincibles Pavilion (3,719), named after the unbeaten 1888–89 Double side. Dugouts and the tunnel sit on that eastern flank. The two goals sit immediately in front of the Kop and the Town End, so from the away seats you look the length of the pitch toward the home singers.
Arrival is straightforward. From the M6 use junction 31, then the A59 and A5085 Blackpool Road; the ground is signed. Stadium car parks are limited and sold in advance (recently around £15). Moor Park, across Sir Tom Finney Way, is a cheaper first-come option. Local schools and clubs often open matchday fields for a few pounds. Preston station is about a 25–30 minute walk or a short bus ride (19 / 19A from the bus station). Leave extra time after a Saturday 3pm kick-off if you need an evening train south.
Pubs tight to the ground lean home. St Gregory’s Catholic Club on Blackpool Road, a five-minute walk from the Kop, usually takes mixed crowds for a small door fee and fills early. The White Hart on Watling Street Road is further out but easier if you have driven. Many travelling fans drink around the station first — The Old Vic, Station Hotel, Hogarths, The Bears Paw, Twelve Tellers — then walk or bus up. Deepdale Retail Park is roughly ten minutes away if you want food rather than a pint (Greggs, Nando’s, Morrisons and the usual chains).
Inside, concourse food is standard football fare plus the local potato and butter pie. Card and cash are both taken at the away kiosks; alcohol is normally on sale unless a fixture is restricted. Toilets are modern. Bags are searched, pyrotechnics mean a long ban, and you should carry ID if you hold a concession ticket. Views from the Kop are among the clearer away ends in the Championship: a steep, unbroken bank looking straight at the Town End goal. Get in early, pick a seat a few rows up rather than on the very front rail if you want the full pitch in one glance, and you will have a proper old English ground without the pillars of the Victorian era.