Not many players have signed for PNE three times during their career but the interviewee for the Barnsley programme has, and The One And Only found out whether or not he fancies a return north to the county where he learned his trade as a footballer.
It comes as something of an irony that Gareth Ainsworth is speaking to The One And Only while at Wycombe Wanderers, the club that ruined North End's last outing at Wembley in 1994. North End lost 4-2 that day, but Ainsworth and North End fans of that era still have cherished memories of the events that led to our appearance in that final.
"The game against Torquay was a definite highlight; if footballers have three or four games they remember for the rest of their lives then that game goes into the top five games of my career. I really had a special night, as it was the last game on the plastic pitch in England. I have watched a video of that game a few times and it still sends shivers down the spine."
John Beck was the architect of the resurgence of North End as a force both on and off the field in the early 1990s and the 36-year-old was quick to highlight the impact the former Cambridge man had that night, and on his career in general.
"I think the fact we were 2-1 down and then 3-1 down was massive in that game, we had absolutely nothing to lose at half-time and John Beck is probably the best manager to have when you're 3-1 down. Out of most managers in the country, he's unbelievable against the odds. It's all right doing things when you're doing well but when you're against it there are not many people who can take on a challenge like John Beck.
"I wouldn't have had the career I've had without him, and wouldn't be the player I am without him. He gets a bad crit sometimes in the papers, but they don't know the real John Beck, as any player who played for him will tell you - he was something special."
Les Chapman signed Ainsworth in 1992 from Northwich Victoria, but he was released for the second time in two years at the end of the season. However, fortunately for the Blackburn-born teenager Cambridge scouts had been keeping tabs on him and he moved south.
"When I arrived at Cambridge I hated John Beck with a passion. He was a real tough, hard manager and I'd been used to my home comforts, but he matured me very quickly and I realised what life in the real world was about. I scored the winner on my debut for Cambridge and then the week later he got the sack and I was devastated. I was starting to like the guy as well but then he got the Preston job and true to his word he came back for me and took me to Preston."
North End in the mid-1990s had a team made up of experienced pros like Kelham O'Hanlon, Andy Fensome and Ian Bryson and players of great potential such as Ainsworth, Lee Cartwright, Ryan Kidd and Lee Ashcroft. It was a time that the long-serving QPR player remembers with great fondness.
"In those days in the early nineties the influx of foreigners hadn't taken hold in the lower leagues and there was a lad from Blackburn, one from Rossendale, one from Preston and one from Bolton all playing in the same team and you wouldn't get that now. We got along famously and we had our fair share of managers pulling their hair out with our antics but we were all the same age and we still keep in touch now."
One of that squad's best nights was for North End against Blackpool when the Lilywhites edged their higher division rivals 1-0 in front of the Sky cameras to move into the third round of the FA Cup. Ainsworth recalls what the under pressure Beck told him ahead of the big game.
"I'd been out for a long time with an injury and that was my first game back. I remember Becky was under a bit of pressure at Preston; we hadn't won in the league for a while. He stuck me up front and he said I know you're going to go and cause havoc for me and I remember being a real thorn in their side. I hadn't played much up front and I was probably making the wrong runs but they ended up confusing their defence and we ended up winning the game and it was another good game to be involved in."
Gary Peters' accession to the manager's job at Deepdale led to the departure of Ainsworth for £25,000 to Lincoln City in 1995 and 41 goals in 97 goals soon earned him a move to Port Vale for 20 times that figure two years on. Goals and great performances for John Rudge's team caught the eye of Premier League scouts and he completed his rapid rise up the leagues in 1998 when he moved to Wimbledon for £2 million, a move he had long aimed for.
"To play in the Premier league is every footballers dream and I'm lucky to have realised that, I scored two goals away at Newcastle and reached cup semi-finals and it was a great time. I was really proud of that and hopefully North End fans will look back and be proud of me because I couldn't have done it without PNE."
Wimbledon were a club in the throes of transformation though and with a number of uncertainties regarding their future the former QPR captain jumped at the chance to join two of his former team-mates up north for PNE's second successive push for the Play-Offs in 2002.
"Moyesie signed me just before he took the Everton job so who knows, if he hadn't have gone I might have stayed and I wouldn't have hesitated to come back. MK Dons and Wimbledon were having a dispute about what was happening and that club had fallen apart and Preston gave me a lifeline.
"I knew Kelham from my earlier days and I was well up for going there and playing well for him. I remember scoring with a cut head and bandages and I think Preston fans knew I'd come back. Talks broke down with Craig Brown after that to get me back, but it was brilliant to come back to play in front of the new stand. I remember the old Town End and the old stands and the old stadium so to come back and see how it had progressed was great and I really enjoyed it."
Loftus Road has been his home since 2003 and the winger was a key component of QPR's 2004 promotion-winning team. He has been captain, club captain and caretaker manager and some North End fans will want to know what he had said to his players to make May's match between the two teams so memorable.
"As a caretaker manager they seemed to take on board how I was as a player they know that I expected them to give nothing less than I did. I'm a winner and we went out to win that game and we missed a few chances, but fair play to Preston, they deserved it that day.
"There was no way I'd want Preston to win the game and it would have been the same with any of my other former clubs. It was good at the end though to see all the fans enjoying themselves just like in 1994, it brought back a couple of good memories, but I was still disappointed as a manager."
For the time being Ainsworth is focused on performing on the pitch for Wycombe however the managerial career path is certainly one that the winger has considered.
"I'm doing the badges down the line and I'm into them at the moment, but every manager I've ever spoken to has said don't hang up the boots until you're absolutely happy, one day you'll know when to retire. That day definitely hasn't come yet and I can't see that in the future, I'm fitter and stronger than I've ever been and believe I've got a good couple of years left in me yet. I've got a few strings to my bow, I've got the physio diploma degree which I did earlier on in my career, but staying in football is something I want to do.
"I'll probably end up coming back to the north west, I think it's in you and you don't lose that, I think there would be pretty big odds on me coming back to Preston as a player, I don't think any bookies would be afraid to lose money on that. Maybe a Morecambe or an Accrington is more likely than PNE, I've got fond memories for PNE, it's my league debut club and that's something you never ever forget."
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