The visit of Spurs meant there was only going to be one former player who we wanted to talk to for the main interview in our all new matchday programme, The One And Only - the man who scored the equaliser in North End's famous draw against the London side in 1996...Michael 'Mickey' Holt.

Those of you who remember Preston North End's last league cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur probably remember it as if it was yesterday, but we're going to make you feel old now - it was 13 years ago!

The last clash between the two sides was such a long time ago in fact that the fresh faced teenager who grabbed North End's equaliser at Deepdale in dramatic fashion is now retired from the professional game.

Michael Holt remembers that cold September night at Deepdale as the highlight of his footballing career and it's one of those strange quirks of fate that the man who coached Holt as a youngster, Alan Irvine, is now in charge of the Lilywhites as they prepare to tackle Spurs once again.

We look back on that night when Gary Peters' North End shook the famous Tottenham Hotspur and speak to the man who grabbed all the headlines and he reveals that he wasn't even supposed to be anywhere near the PNE first team at that stage of his career!



"Gary Peters had brought me in during the summer from Blackburn, he told me that I wouldn't play in the first team in my first season, he had his squad, but he wanted to develop me," Holt says as he looks back on his first days in the professional ranks.

"I had such a good pre-season, I scored about two goals a game and I managed to get myself on to the bench, came off the bench three or four times and the week before the Spurs game I came on at half-time against Bournemouth and had a really good game.

"Steve Wilkinson was injured and all the lads were saying that I was going to be playing, I thought that I would be on the bench, but Gary Peters told me that I was starting and I'm like 'ah, right, cool!'.

"Obviously you are nervous but at that age nerves don't seem to affect you the same way, you just take it with a pinch of salt and get on with it."

Gerry Francis' star-studded Spurs stars arrived at Deepdale knowing full well that they would be expected to brush aside lowly Preston, and though Darren Anderton managed to put Tottenham ahead early on, the headlines were stolen by Holt with a last gasp 90th minute equaliser to send the PNE faithful delirious.

"I still remember it like it was yesterday. They had quite a good team, all the England superstars, it was actually Darren Anderton who scored after four or five minutes. I obviously grabbed the goal in the last minute, Ian Bryson sending the ball across the face of goal in front of the Town End, I got there in front of my marker and slid it home. It was definitely the best moment of my career, by far.

"I remember it went a bit crazy when I got the equaliser, I scored at the Town End and they all went mental behind. It's quite funny because there are two or three people who I work with in the police force who were actually on that night and when I started they just used to say 'look, it's Micky Holt, Holt, Holt. We remember you, we were there when you scored against Spurs'. I get embarrassed about it now, but it was a great atmosphere on the night, it might have been described as a drab game by the national press, but I remember it being a good game.



"I thought we played quite well at Deepdale and we were unlucky not to win the game. I remember doing a load of interviews after the game and only being young you are not coached or told what to say so you just say what you think. I was just, delighted and excited and hoping that it was the start of things."

Whilst Holt was hoping that his goal against the Premiership's top boys was the start of something special, the reality was a little less kind. PNE were beaten 3-0 in the second-leg at White Hart Lane and Holt's early promise failed to materialise, he struggled to nail down a starting spot as North End struggled to acclimatise to life in the Second Division. Peters was stood down as manager and the young striker picked the worst possible time to get a long-term injury.

"I had some good times at Preston and I enjoyed every minute of it, it is my one biggest regret in life that I actually left Preston. Moyesie came in as manager and the day he was appointed I got injured so I was out for three months and in that time he had brought in three other players.

"I went on loan to Macclesfield, had a good time there but they couldn't afford to buy me so I went to Rochdale and scored quite a few goals for them on loan. So I had a decision, do I stay at Preston and sit in the reserves or do I enjoy first team at Rochdale?

"There were quite a lot of ex-Preston players at Rochdale at the time, people such as Ian Bryson and Paul Sparrow. You make these decisions, but sometimes I look back and think I should have stuck it out and fought for my place a little bit harder.

"I always had good admiration for Moyesie, he was a person who knew what he wanted and was very focused on the job, if something needed doing he would do it. It was never a case of him going home to see if his family if he could get out to a match for two hours to see a lad play ten minutes. He'd do that if it benefited the club or benefited himself and that's how you get on in life. His role model is Alex Ferguson and if he is anything like him then you can see him being as successful."



Football, like life, often comes full circle and whilst Moyes took North End to bigger and better things and then went on to bigger things with Everton, the man who joined Moyes at Everton, Alan Irvine is now at Preston North End. Holt's worked under both as it was Irvine, or 'Swerve' as he was known in those days, who coached young Michael as a youth team player at Blackburn.

Holt remembers North End's current Gaffer well: "Swerve will probably be embarrassed to say that he was my youth team coach, probably about 16 or 17 years ago when he was starting out at Blackburn. You could see that Alan had the intensity and the focus to go on to bigger and better things but he is genuinely a really nice guy, he always helped me, even when I left Blackburn, I could ring him and speak to him about certain things, I looked up to him.

"He was one of the people in the game who you could trust and there are not many of those, I'm delighted for how well he is doing now, he's had a great start to the season with Preston."

Holt's professional career after Deepdale meandered it's way from Rochdale across the Irish Sea for a five-year spell in the Eircom League before returning to his native north west to play non league football with Nelson, his home-town team Barnoldswick and more recently Padiham.

At 32-years-old, Holt is now looking at career away from the game, a pillar of the community in the local police force: "I have been in the police force now for three and a half years. It's a complete change in career, from the high life of football to being a responsible member of the community but I love my job as much as I loved playing football. You go into work and it's something different every day, you are never in a comfort zone with the police, it is always testing you and it is exciting.

"I've basically decided to stop playing and I am going to help the Lancashire Police team in the West Lancs League and I have said to the manager that I will play with them as and when he wants me to play. I've been doing this properly since I was 15 and I am on my 18th pre-season, I joked that I have done more pre-seasons than some of the lads are old!"

You can order your copy of the Spurs programme and read what Michael's former team-mates Simon Davey and Mark Rankine had to say about him on MyPNE.com for just £3. We've got loads of other special interviews lined up in the weeks and months to come so remember to get your copy of The One And Only from around the ground for just £3.