2009/10 to 2017/18

Preston North End never reached the Premier League in the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18, spending five in the Championship and four lower down. Their best finish was 7th in the Championship, in 2017/18. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £1.8m in transfer fees and took in £900k, a net spend of £903k.

Preston North End, the first champions of English football, spent a big chunk of this decade in the third tier. After 19th in 2009/10 they went down in 22nd a year later and did not return until 2015/16. When they did, they looked at home: 11th, 13th and then seventh in 2017/18, two points short of the play-offs.

Preston have rarely been big spenders, and these years were no exception. Declan Rudd, signed from Norwich for around £1m in 2017, was as much as they paid for anyone. Jermaine Beckford arrived on a free, and Sean Maguire came from Cork City for a small fee.

The 115.football Preston save is about patience and a very large wallet. Avoid the 2010/11 relegation, skip four years in League One, and Deepdale might have something to celebrate besides its history.