Preston North End

Founded: 1866

Nickname: Spireites

Stadium: Proact Stadium

Manager: Paul Cook

Last Season: First in League Two

Chesterfield got promoted as champions of League Two last season, to return to the third tier of English Football just two seasons after relegation. 

Manager Paul Cook joined the side in October 2012 and rebuilt the side to win promotion this year. Cook has already had a busy summer, with four players being released, and five current players being offered contract extensions. 

Ollie Banks, Jay O’Shea and Sam Hird have all signed two year extensions, keeping them at the Club until the summer of 2016. Ritchie Humphreys, chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, has signed a new one year deal, as have midfielder Sam Morsy and striker Dan Gardner.

 

Assistant manager Leam Richardson has also signed a new two year contract to remain at the Club alongside Cook. 

The first signing for the Spirites came in the form of Daniel Jones from Port Vale. Jones made headlines last year after a training ground altercation with a teammate but is looking to start a fresh with newly promoted Chesterfield. 

Last time Preston North End faced Chesterfield was during the 2010/11 season. In the league, North End won 2-0 at the Proact Stadium courtesy of goals from Clarke Carlisle and Barry Nicholson, and the reverse fixture at Deepdale ended in a 0-0 draw. 

The reverse fixture this time around will be at the Proact stadium on Tuesday 10th February, the first of three away trips in the month for the Lilywhites. 

The newly promoted side are just 5/1 to win promotion in the 2014/15 campaign, or if you think they will repeat last year’s league standing, they are 16/1 with Sky Bet to go up as champions. 

League One Winner – 16/1

Promotion – 5/1

Relegation – 7/1

Tomorrow we will take a close look at Crawley Town, who finished in 14th place in League One last season.