Greg Cunningham has impressed everyone since his arrival at Deepdale and with an incentive of a trip to France with his country at the end of the season; he only wants to keep improving.
Irish international defender Greg Cunningham signed a two-year contract at Deepdale up at Livingston’s ground, during the half-time interval of North End’s pre-season win over Motherwell.
It is fair to say that North End fans might have read his biography on various websites, even seen him play whilst at fellow promoted side Bristol City, but none of them could necessarily been able to describe what expected from the new left back.
Just over four months later adjectives are pretty easy to come by when describing the Galway-born player; ‘hard-working’, ‘passionate’, ‘brave’, ‘aggressive’, ‘determined’, ‘dynamic’ – take your pick and add to the list if you like.
The No.3 sat down with The One And Only at the Springfields training ground recently and he told the matchday programme that the majority of these words are things that are a baseline for his performances, and in fact for any member of the team here at Deepdale.
“The key for any footballer is to be playing games,” said the former Manchester City defender. “I have that drive in me that I want to be playing every week and in every game and it has been good and bar the odd knock that I have had, I have been involved in pretty much every game that I have been available for.
“I wear my heart on my sleeve. Every time I play I give everything – that is a minimum for me and growing up that was always the way I was brought up; so the fans have been great towards me. There has always been a magnificent showing, both home and away – its great support and I knew that was the case when I came to the Club – it has been great.
“You can’t say that an Irishman doesn’t give everything when he is playing. Every person wears their heart on their sleeve because of the background they have come from – a hard-working mentality. I try and show that every time I play, along with a bit of technical play as well!
“I give everything every time I play, but that is the minimum for everyone on the team. That is what the gaffer instils in us all – hard work and togetherness and it is going well.”
You can read a lot more from Greg about his PNE and international aspirations, his settling in period and much more in Saturday’s matchday programme.
We also include interviews and features with Tom Clarke – answering your questions – Chris Kirkland, Jermaine Beckford, Jordan Hugill and John Welsh.
We have 13 pages of content about our visitors from Berkshire and all the other usual content, all included in 84 perfect bound pages for just £3, on sale from the Club shop from Friday and then from inside and outside the ground on matchday.