There is bound to be mixed emotions for manager Simon Grayson as he takes a team back to Elland Road for the first time since his departure from his boyhood club.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Roses clash the North End boss admitted that it was a special occasion, but that his only focus was three points coming back across the Pennines to Lancashire.
“It’s a football club that it close to my heart,” he said. “I started my career there, supported the club and I went the full circle managing them for three years. I had some good times there, but I left, which happens in football.
“We are going there this weekend to do what we did at Burnley and many other clubs, which is to get three points.
“It is a club that I support, but I have played against them and got three points and I want to win there on Sunday.
“My main focus is to select a team that is going to put on a performance and go and get three points.”
Of course, the man who celebrated his birthday this week, was in the opposite dugout the last time the two sides met at Leeds in what was a memorable evening for those from the Red Rose county.
“It was an unbelievable game,” he continued. “We were cruising and then ten minutes before half-time we were all over the shop. Even at 4-1 up I could sense that we were struggling a little bit.
“Preston got a goal just before half-time and that gave them the impetus to start the second half brightly. Four more goals went in and it was an unbelievable night.
“Jon Parkin has probably not scored many better goals in his career than he did that night; he was very difficult to play against, but it is now part of history.
“As the Preston manager now I can say it was a great night for the football club! But that night it was not easy to take given what it meant to the supporters.
“Let’s hope that if there is the same number of goals at the weekend, it is a similar sort of result.”
There has been plenty of change at Leeds since Simon’s departure, but whilst it is something he has of course followed, it is not high on his list of priorities.
“At any football club you have to have stability and give managers the chance to build foundations or give yourself the opportunity to put things in place to be successful.
“At our football club I have been here nearly three years and we have progressed as we have gone along because of the continuity – Leeds United have not had that, for whatever reason.
“I look back on my time there as a success, but all of that goes out of the window on Sunday at three o’clock – it is all about Preston North End and trying to get a result there,” he added.