Preston North End is one of the most historic names in English football. The club, which was officially founded in 1880, was one of the founding members of the Football League eight years later. Whilst many associate the word “Invincibles” with Arsenal’s famous team of 2003/04, Preston were, in fact, the original Invincibles and, moreover, they were the first team to win the league and FA Cup double.
They achieved all this in the very first season of the Football League, claiming the 1888/89 league title and winning the FA Cup in March 1889. In the league they won 18 and drew four of their 22 matches and also went unbeaten, of course, in the FA Cup. In the final they beat Wolves 3-0 to claim their first win in the competition, the FA Cup having first been contested back in 1871.
North End are undoubtedly a massive part of the fabric and history of football in England. However, at the time of writing they are as close to the Championship relegation battle as they are to the fight for promotion. Their glory days are very much in the past, with their last top-flight title success coming in 1889/90 when they defended their crown from the competition’s inaugural season.
And just as they have won the league twice, so too have they won the FA Cup on a couple of occasions. Their second and most recent win in the major domestic cup came back in 1937/38 when they beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the final in front of 93,497 fans at Wembley. But might that long wait for glory be about to come to an end in 2025?
Preston Enjoy Best Cup Run Since 1966
Preston North End pull off the shock of the FA Cup 5th Round beating EFL championship high flyers Burnley in a lack lustre Lancashire derby.
Will Preston’s cup run distract them from their relegation fight in the league?#PNEFC #BFC #MOTD #FACup pic.twitter.com/W016o9t7wo
— Transfer Tittle Tattle (@TransferTittle) March 1, 2025
It would take a brave, optimistic, foolish or psychic punter to back PNE to win the 2024/25 FA Cup. They are currently the rank outsiders according to the bookmakers, at massive odds of 150/1. For reference, the team above them in the market are priced at just 12/1, showing just how unlikely the bookies think it is that the Lancashire outfit will end their long wait for FA Cup glory.
That said, they have a better chance of winning this year’s competition than Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United, Spurs or any of the others who, unlike PNE, have not made the quarter finals. On the 1st of March, North End thumped local rivals Burnley 3-0 to book their spot in the quarters. The last time they made it to the last eight of the competition was all the way back in 1966 and so this really is a massive achievement for the club.
They are set to play Aston Villa in the next round and might just fancy their chances of an upset. The tie will take place at the end of March and, perhaps crucially, will be at Deepdale. On home soil, the Lancastrians might just feel they have a chance, especially if their opponents remain in the Champions League (they face a two-legged clash with Club Brugge before then). If Paul Heckingbottom’s side can somehow overcome Unai Emery’s team then Preston will have booked themselves a spot in a Wembley semi final, which would be a fantastic day out for their fans.
No Preston supporters alive will remember their last top-flight successes but there will still be some who were there back in 1938 when they last won the FA Cup. Since then glory has been thin on the ground for North End fans but their overall FA Cup record remains relatively strong.
1966 and All That
It is true that it is many years since North End enjoyed a decent run in this competition. The cups have not been kind to them for a good while, though they did make the fifth round of the FA Cup in 2014/15. Earlier in the century they made it that far three seasons in a row, between 2005/06 and 2007/08 but, as said, we have to go all the way back to 1966 for the last time they made it further than that.
Back then they beat Charlton 3-2 away from home in the third round before needing a reply to get past local rivals Bolton in the fourth. They upset Spurs next, winning 2-1 and very nearly caused another shock in the quarters but eventually went down 3-1 in a replay against Man United.
Runners-Up Five Times
Preston’s tally of two FA Cup wins is more than most sides, including some decent-sized ones, such as Leeds, Leicester, Southampton, Derby, Burnley and Ipswich, who have won it once. There are many sides, for example Palace, Birmingham, Watford, Fulham, QPR, Brighton, Middlesbrough and Stoke, whose best result is a defeat in the final.
PNE aren’t doing that bad with two wins; but they could easily have had more, having lost in the final on five occasions. Indeed, their seven appearances in the showpiece game is only two fewer than Spurs – though Tottenham won eight of their nine finals.
1964
Preston last made the final just a few years before their last quarter final and as with that last-eight run, they were a second-tier side at the time. They went down 3-2 to West Ham in the final in 1964 and it was a cruel loss, the Second Division side having led twice and then eventually gone down to a 90th-minute winner.
1937
10 years earlier they had also made the final and again lost 3-2 to a late goal. West Brom beat them at Wembley thanks to an 87th-minute goal. Unfortunately for PNE conceding three in FA Cup finals was rather a habit as they lost 3-1 to Sunderland in their previous final, in 1937. Of course, they made amends for that the following season by making it back to Wembley and defeating Huddersfield 1-0.
1922
That win was also the coldest of cold revenge for the Lancashire side, served up fully 16 years after the same side had beaten them by the same score in the 1922 FA Cup final. That clash at Stamford Bridge was Preston’s third appearance in the FA Cup final, their second having been in 1889 when they won the double.
1887
Their very first FA Cup final came just a year before that, in the 1887/88 competition, when they beat Hyde 26-0 in the first round! They were a very strong team at the turn of the century and dismissed Bolton 9-1 in the second round. They eventually lost the final 2-1 to West Brom but maybe, just maybe, there is a good omen ahead of their quarter final with Villa. They beat the Midlands side 3-1 back in 1888 and another win like that 137 years on would do very nicely indeed!