Strangely enough when Preston moved into the Deepdale ground in 1875 (as Preston Nelson) it wasn’t as a football club, they were actually a cricket, rugby and athletic club.
Deepdale at the time was part of Deepdale farm and as it was at the northern end of the town Preston took the name Preston North End when they switched to football in 1881. Apparently at the time they used to let in ladies free of charge, however they had to stop this practise as more and more turned up every game !!
The ground was taken over by the army between 1941 – 43 and upon its return to the football club extensive developments were made.
The picture below taken from a Football Review magazine shows how the football ground looked in the 70’s.
The text on the picture reads as follows;
“Preston North Ends Deepdale ground has a record attendance of 42,684 set in April 1938 for a First Division match against Arsenal. The capacity of the ground today is 40,100. The playing surface measures 112 yards by 78 yards. Inset: The imposing new main entrance to the Deepdale ground.”
The picture above is available for sale (along with loads more Preston football memorabilia) on our main site Footybits, a link to which is at the top of this page.