2018 has been a rollercoaster of a year for everyone associated with Preston North End.

The year started with outside hopes of a play off push that were eventually ended by Derby’s last day thrashing of Barnsley to consign North End to 7th place, and has ended with an injury crisis that has cast aside half the squad.

There have been plenty of positives – Callum Robinson, Ben Pearson and Ben Davies have further strengthened their positions as PNE’s brightest prospects, and the more than impressive home record has allowed Alex Neil’s side to put behind them the poor start to the 2018/19 season.

The year started with the signings of Billy Bodin and Louis Moult, with both having contributions to make over the coming months.

North End went unbeaten in the Championship in January, with an FA Cup defeat to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane the only real downside.

A dominating 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground showed PNE had real credentials to push for the top six.

That result came the day before the club record sale of Jordan Hugill to West Ham for around £10m – he faced his former club in the league just ten months later, on loan at Middlesbrough.

The cup defeat to the Blades at least allowed PNE to focus on the league, although form was at times patchy – impressive away wins over Sunderland and Bolton cancelled out by too many home draws and defeats to the likes of Ipswich and a heavy 4-1 loss at Sheffield Wednesday.

Consecutive wins over Leeds and QPR, however, gave North End a realistic shot of the play offs, with rivals Derby, Middlesbrough and Millwall all having to face either each other or other teams in the top six.

They failed to take advantage, however, with a 0-0 stalemate against Norwich and a defeat against Reading at the Madejski meaning that PNE required Derby to lose at home to relegation-threatened Barnsley whilst they had to beat Burton, who would be relegated with a defeat.

It had all the makings of a final day classic, just like in 2009 when Alan Irvine guided the club to 6th place on the final day after play off rivals Cardiff fell to defeat at Hillsborough.

But there was to be no such repeat, Barnsley failing to hold on to their side of the bargain after a 4-1 defeat.

North End did win after a late Louis Moult goal, saving the Tykes from relegation with the unfortunate Burton taking that final spot after fellow relegation candidates Bolton sparked a remarkable comeback to come from 2-1 down to beat Nottingham Forest.

Moving onto 2018/19, PNE fans were full of optimism that given a successful window, the club could finally reach the promised land of the Premier League.

Alex Neil said early in the window that a striker on a permanent deal was one of the main priorities, but come the deadline none had been signed.

The club did well to secure the loan signings of Brandon Barker and Lukas Nmecha both on loan from City, but those deals only came following injuries to key players Bodin and Sean Maguire on the eve of the season opener against QPR.

North End did well to bounce back from that disappointment by beating Steve McClaren’s side 1-0 at Deepdale, Alan Browne scoring the only goal.

But that was to be their only clean sheet and win until the home derby against Wigan in October.

That is not to say PNE were playing poorly, but couldn’t put together a 90 minute performance.

They led 2-0 against Bolton against Deepdale before drawing 2-2, and came back from 2-0 down to equalise against Sheffield United (goals from Daniel Johnson and Callum Robinson) before David McGoldrick notched the winner.

They were also involved in a remarkable encounter at Villa Park against Aston Villa at the beginning of October.

Villa went into the break 2-0 up thanks to goals from Jonathan Kodjia and Tammy Abraham, and it looked like a similar pattern was occurring, with North End having lost by two away from home on several occasions.

But the second half was like the Preston of the season before, with a Daniel Johnson penalty and a free kick from Paul Gallagher drawing the scores level.

Substitute Louis Moult then nodded home from a corner to spark pandemonium in the away end, before Yannick Bolasie equalised in injury time.

Villa could have snatched the points for themselves but Chris Maxwell saved from Glenn Whelan’s penalty, who hadn’t taken a penalty or scored for three years.

That seemed to lift the atmosphere around the club, with a 4-0 demolition of Wigan following that, before an eight game unbeaten run.

In the midst of that was a 1-1 draw at bottom club Ipswich, that game best remembered for a Chris Maxwell red card and Paul Gallagher ending up in net.

He made an excellent save from Gwion Edwards to save a point for North End.

They also beat a Blackburn side 4-1 that had been in the play offs a few weeks earlier, Callum Robinson with the pick of the goals before going off with a hamstring injury that will rule him out until next year.

Hamstring injuries, and injuries in general, are the main topic of discussion amongst PNE fans at the moment, with five out of seven attackers as well as Ben Davies and Josh Earl all out.

There are some questions about whether the training regime is to blame, but as players get injured the likelihood of others getting injured increases because their workload is higher.

It’s two successive seasons now that PNE have had such bad luck with injuries, this season on balance probably worse than last, when the majority of defenders were out at the same time in October/November.

The unbeaten run was ended at Birmingham City, a calamitous Declan Rudd error for the first goal preceding a further two second half goals from the hosts which were unreplied.

Back to back wins against Bristol City and Millwall were then followed by defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Hull, Rudd putting in one of his best performances in a PNE shirt to keep the score at just 1-0 to the hosts at Hillsborough.

2018 ended at Deepdale with arguably the performance of the season against Aston Villa, injuries meaning North End had to name four youth players on the bench.

Two of those, Adam O’Reilly and 16-year-old Ethan Walker (the club’s youngest player to make a league appearance) made their senior debuts as Lukas Nmecha’s first for the club secured North End a 1-1 draw, and they could have had all three.

Going into the New Year, Preston sit 17th in the table with a 14 point gap to the top six, a play off push probably being unrealistic at this point.

They sit seven points ahead of Rotherham in 22nd, who they face at the New York Stadium on New Year’s Day.

If you had to predict where North End would finish, the most popular answer would probably be mid table, but with a solid January & the club’s best players now returning from injury, there could be no limit to where they finish.

Player of the year – Alan Browne – The best example of a player that has come on leaps and bounds under Alex Neil. Eight goals already this season to add to the eight he scored last season from midfield. Can do the defensive work as well. Probably PNE’s most valuable asset at the moment.

Young player of the year – Ben Davies – It says a lot about how quickly Ben Davies has progressed that PNE look a poorer side whenever he is absent, compared to 18 months ago when his future at the club looked uncertain. One of the best centre halves I have seen at Deepdale, still only 23 and potential captaincy material.

Performance of the season – Nottingham Forest 0-3 Preston, January 2018 – Difficult to pick out one game but this one sticks in the memory. There was a lot of unrest amongst the fanbase with the Hugill sale imminent, but this dominating performance at the City Ground showed that North End could compete perfectly well in the now West Ham striker’s absence.

Signing of the year – Jordan Storey – Not many signings for PNE over the course of the year but Jordan Storey is the pick of the bunch. Signed from Exeter in the summer, he’s not featured regularly for the side this term but improves game on game and Saturday’s performance against Villa was faultless. Will surely be seeing his name on the teamsheet a lot more in 2019.

It’s fourth round day at the Bellerive Country Club, and Tiger Woods has a five shot lead going into the back nine.

Hold on to that lead and he wins his first PGA Tour event since 2013.

He has undergone four back surgeries since that last victory, one in each year from 2014 to 2017, the last being a spinal fusion surgery that was potentially career-defining.

Woods said that his only priority was to be able to play golf with his kids, and the prospect of playing professionally again, never mind to a high standard, did at one point seem out of the question.

Woods has been on an upward curve ever since, and has gone from outside the top 1000 to being ranked #13 in just under a year.

There were nerves at Bellerive when he fell to only two shots in front of Billy Horschel, his closest rival, going towards the 18th tee.

He managed to score par on the par 5 last hole, and capped off one of golf’s greatest comebacks, gaining a crucial victory in the process ahead of this week’s Ryder Cup, staged in Paris.

His inclusion in the US side adds to arguably the most talented they have for many years, Woods and Phil Mickelson joining Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Masters winner Patrick Reed in the side.

Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth and the in-form Bryson DeChambeau are amongst the other team mates.

Europe also look strong, with captain Thomas Bjorn including Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey amongst his captain’s picks.

Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose are also involved.

Sam Smith, a member of Penwortham Golf Club, doesn’t think Woods will follow up his Tour Championship success with a good performance in Paris.

“I think it will be difficult as there will be that much pressure on him.

“Woods and Mickelson have a history of not gelling well together and they could struggle to perform in a team.”

He also talked up Europe’s chances, and spoke highly of two of their golfers in particular.

“Europe, in contrast, have a great chance of winning on home turf.

“Ian Poulter always seem to pull something out when he is playing in a team, and Henrik Stenson is a solid player who will contribute heavily.”

Woods will be looking to be part of a Ryder Cup victory for the first time in 19 years, having been part of the USA team that won on home soil in 1999.

He missed the 2008 success whilst recovering from a knee injury, and 2016 due to his ongoing back troubles.

In terms of the odds, as of Monday afternoon SkyBet have USA as slight 10/11 favourites, with Europe at a price of 6/5. The draw is 12/1.

Europe have won four out of the last six meetings between the two, but went down 17-11 to the Americans at Hazeltine two years previous.

Victory was clinched by Ryan Moore, who defeated Lee Westwood on the 18th green to reach 14 1/2 points – neither golfer is taking part in this year’s event, which is set to again be fiercely contested.

The event starts on Friday at 6:30am with the morning foursomes, USA looking to match 2016’s feat of going 4-0 in the opening events.

Five of the eight players who were successful in the foursomes are taking part this year, with Mickelson, Reed, Fowler, Spieth and Dustin Johnson all still prominent in the golfing ranks going into Paris.

Add Rose, Stenson, Poulter and Rory McIlroy to the mix and this is one of the most eagerly anticipated Ryder Cups in years.

It was good to be back at Deepdale yesterday, three months after a narrow 2-1 win over Burton Albion saw North End narrowly miss out on the play offs.

It was a solid performance from North End against Steve McClaren’s QPR, Alan Browne’s 50th minute header the goal that separated the two teams.

QPR set up relatively defensively but they had their chances – Declan Rudd making a fine close range save late on to clinch the win for North End – and you would not bet against their attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze playing higher up the ladder in a few years’ time.

All the talk before the season opener was about the lack of striking options with Sean Maguire’s injury, although Louis Moult had a good game.

He looked more like the finished article than he did last season, and linked up very well with his team mates – something you would expect to have developed over pre season.

He faced a tough battle against QPR’s German defender Toni Leistner, who is probably one of the strongest centre backs in the Championship, Moult winning his fair share of headers.

There were no real attempts on goal for Moult, something which he will want to improve on, but his all round play was encouraging.

Whether more competition arrives for the forward role before next week, with Moult the only senior striker available at the moment, remains to be seen.

The back four looked solid, Andrew Hughes slotting in seamlessly on his North End debut.

The left back, signed from Peterborough earlier in the summer, put in some strong challenges and also looked threatening in the opposing half.

The head injury to Tom Clarke (a potential concussion) will be a concern ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Swansea – the PNE captain was preferred to Paul Huntington alongside man of the match Ben Davies at the heart of the defence and he had a solid game.

Ben Pearson, perhaps surprisingly, avoided a yellow card yesterday and put in a strong performance, just as North End fans are now used to seeing from the 23 year old.

Callum Robinson did well going forward and there were noticeable improvements in his defensive work, something that Daryl Horgan matched when he came on.

Horgan now looks to be firmly in Neil’s plans, whether that be as a starter or from the bench, and he brought renewed energy to the North End attack when he was introduced late on.

Some of his early crosses were wayward but there is no doubting his crossing ability and you would expect the quality of those to improve with game time this early in the season.

With a tough run of games coming up for North End, yesterday’s win and the performance is an encouraging start to the season with some new faces possibly arriving in time for next Saturday.

All the talk in the previous week has been about the introduction of ‘The Hundred’ – the ECB’s new proposal aiming to introduce more kids into the game of cricket.

All they had to do was watch last night’s brilliant Roses game between Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The crowd – a record attendance of any domestic T20 game outside of London and Finals Day – stood at 22,515.

The night started with rain, delaying the match by almost an hour and half and causing the match to be reduced to 14 overs a side, but by around 10pm the mood was completely different around Old Trafford.

You only had to take one look at the teams to see that this was going to be a cracker of a match.

Jos Buttler made his first appearance of the season for Lancashire, opening the batting, while David Willey, Kane Williamson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid and Joe Root in for Yorkshire.

It was Willey that took the early punishment, opening the bowling after Yorkshire captain Steven Patterson had sent Lancashire in to bat, his second over being carted for 14 after Liam Livingstone had smashed 18 off Tim Bresnan’s first over.

Livingstone, eventually named man of the match, was in unstoppable form and he brought up his 50 in just 5.3 overs.

England’s Rashid had a night to forget, with Livingstone, Arron Lilley and Jordan Clark all getting the better of him.

Livingstone carried on swinging, and it took an exceptional diving catch from Root at mid off to remove him from the crease.

The hitting didn’t stop there though, Clark and Lilley taking 19 off Rashid’s third over.

Another 17 came off the 14th over as Lancashire racked up a mammoth 174/2.

In most normal circumstances, you’d give the opposition no chance of chasing such a high score.

But T20 has changed a lot in the last few years, and Yorkshire now had one of the most fearsome batting attacks in county cricket.

Opener Adam Lyth took the game to the Red Rose quickly, hitting 22 off one Toby Lester over.

He went for one big shot too many in the 7th over, caught by Livingstone off leg spinner Matt Parkinson for 60, but his innings had put Yorkshire in with a shout.

In came Joe Root, who gave everyone watching an exhibition showing why he is England’s number one batsman.

After Willey, who had opened the batting with Lyth, was stumped off Parkinson, he was joined by Liam Plunkett, promoted up to number four with his big hitting skills in mind.

He dispatched Parkinson out of the ground in the 11th, and another Root six meant Yorkshire needed 46 from the last 3 overs – still advantage Lancashire you would say.

Clark bowled Plunkett around his pads with the first ball of the 12th, and when Bresnan became the next wicket to fall off the penultimate over, Lancashire looked in the ascendency.

But Root was still there, and with 17 needed off the final over, bowled by Lester, he took 12 off the first four balls.

The only mistake Root made in his innings was running a single off the penultimate ball, leaving Yorkshire needing four off the last ball but crucially giving new batsman Williamson the strike.

Williamson could only find the leg side fielder with his slog, and Lancashire clinched an epic by one run to stay top of the North group.

Preston North End go into their opening day fixture against QPR looking to extend their unbeaten home record against their opponents that has stood since before this century.

Alex Neil’s side did the double over the Hoops last season, a 1-0 win at Deepdale followed by a crucial 2-1 win at Loftus Road in April.

QPR haven’t had the greatest record of late against PNE, having failed to win any of the last six meetings between the two.

Their last victory came in 2010, courtesy of a brace from Adel Taarabt and a Rob Hulse strike.

The R’s team that day featured ex-PNE man Patrick Agyemang, 21 of his 72 career league goals having come for the Lilywhites.

That season ended with contrasting fortunes for both clubs, with QPR promoted to the Premier League under Neil Warnock and North End relegated to League One.

The Hoops then enjoyed two seasons in the Premier League, under Warnock, Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp.

Although they did bounce straight back to the top flight under Redknapp in 2014 after relegation, they went down again after one season and have fallen into financial turmoil since.

A UEFA report published last summer showed QPR held the fifth highest debt of any European club, a staggering £242m (€279m).

Their big spending days are certainly behind them now, the club looking at cheaper incomings as well as promoting their promising youth products.

One of those, Paul Smyth, made a goal-scoring Northern Ireland debut earlier this summer, when he notched the winner against South Korea.

I spoke with Mark Davis, QPR fan & co-founder of the fan group Hoops Down Under (@hoopsdownunder), who gave his thoughts on the opening game and the upcoming season in general:

1) There were mixed reactions from QPR fans to Ian Holloway’s sacking and Steve McClaren’s subsequent appointment as manager, what were your thoughts?

I felt for Ollie to be honest but wasn’t surprised he was shown the exit door. Even though the team improved on their previous season and we saw more youth players given first team opportunities, Ollie’s biggest issue was the team not being able to find any consistency and our dour away form didn’t improve at all. It’s been our Achilles heel for numerous years now.

Steve McClaren was a surprise appointment and I must admit comments from Newcastle fans didn’t give me any vote of confidence off the top. But as I with every managerial chance (& let’s be honest, we’ve had a few), I’ll support Steve all the way, like I did Ollie before that.

2) From a fans’ perspective, what would be the ideal season for the club realistically?

Well with a change of managers, we seriously can’t afford to go backwards.

The club are still hand tied with this FFP fine breathing down our necks and until that’s sorted, QPR are going to have to rely on funds from transfer sales & continue to give youth a shot at Championship football.

Last season we finished 16th, so I’m thinking somewhere between 8th-10th would be a pass mark. Playoffs would be a surprise bonus.

3) What sort of business do you think QPR need to do in the transfer market before the first game of the season, given that a few high profile players have left or been released?

We need a few defenders and a prolific striker. We struggled for goals the last two seasons and our position on the ladder reflected this.

The sale of Smithies was disappointing but it had to be done. I think fans were expecting to get more for Alex but we have no idea how it all ultimately played out.

We’ve signed German central defender Toni Leistner and by all reports he sounds like a promising player so fingers crossed. Hopefully a few more signings to come but it’s safe to say those crazy big spending days are well and truly behind us…thank god.

4) Although he didn’t feature for Australia, Massimo Luongo was the sole QPR representative at the World Cup, how important a player will he be this season?

Luongo has been improving every season and as QPR fans from Australia, it’s only natural that we want to see Massimo continue down this path. This could be his biggest season yet and if so, I think QPR will hugely benefit from his control in the midfield. In saying that, I do hope McClaren has big plans for Massimo this coming season.

5) Which other players will PNE need to watch out for on the opening day?

Luke Freeman fell away at the back end of the season but started 2017-18 with a hiss and a roar. I expect PNE will have to keep Freeman at bay if he starts the new season in a similar fashion. Matt Smith looks like he’s shed some weight in the summer so could be dangerous up front, combining with Smyth or (Eberechi) Eze.

It’s going to be intriguing to see what lineup McClaren picks & the formation he uses for this match given our very very poor away record. A draw would be a nice result.

 

All the best to PNE for the season ahead

You could probably count on one hand the amount of Premier League caretaker managers that get appointed on a permanent basis by Premier League clubs.

Alan Shearer, Eric Black, Terry Connor and Steve Agnew are amongst the names that perhaps rightly didn’t get a crack at full time management, but there are names out there that have unfairly missed out.

Darren Moore at West Brom is one of the names that could fall into the latter category by the end of the season – he is currently contracted until then with no word yet about his future beyond that.

It is very early days in Moore’s reign at the Baggies but they have already won at Old Trafford and picked up a point against Swansea in a game they arguably could have won.

Players like Ben Foster and James McClean have spoken about the influence of Moore both in the dressing room and out on the pitch, with McClean saying the players “knew what they were doing” and that they are all “pulling in the right direction”.

Of course Moore would be a risky appointment, with no previous managerial experience, but before this spell as caretaker manager he was first team coach, as well as making over 100 appearances for Albion during his playing career, so knows the club inside out.

But when you look at the recent records of Premier League clubs who have appointed more experienced managers post-relegation, it does not make for good reading.

This season, Middlesbrough sacked Garry Monk in December whilst Leonid Slutsky and Simon Grayson had both departed Hull and Sunderland by the end of November.

Last season, Roberto Di Matteo has his Aston Villa contract terminated after a 2-0 defeat at Preston in October.

Those that have held onto their managers post-relegation have generally had more success, with Rafa Benítez guiding Newcastle to the title last season.

Whereas Benítez, being a world class manager, could most likely have got any side firing in the second tier, there is some merit to the argument that being given time to assess the squad towards the back end of a relegation season before rebuilding is a good way to succeed.

Newcastle is probably the best example of an inexperienced coach taking a club back to the top flight, with Chris Hughton achieving that feat in 2010 in what was his first job in management.

He then went on to achieve relative success at Birmingham, guiding them into the play offs in his only season in charge in 2011, before of course taking Brighton up to the Premier League six years later.

Another reason to potentially appoint Moore is the off-field turmoil that circles West Brom at the moment.

Alan Pardew’s reign at the club was a disaster and the chairman John Williams was removed from his role last month, with technical director Nicky Hammond resigning last week after a spate of poor transfers.

Appointing Moore would maintain stability and ensure that a connection between the playing staff and the fans could be present, something that may be crucial as West Brom look to bounce back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

The Baggies will need a miracle to survive relegation this campaign but if the players can, as McClean says, continue to pull in the same direction as their manager, it would surely be a risk worth taking for West Brom to appoint Moore.

Preston midfielder Alan Browne said that he was delighted to add another goal to his collection last night and contribute to an important win for the team.

The Irishman has been a key fixture in Alex Neil’s side this season, with Browne being one of the team’s most consistent performers.

He scored his fourth league goal of the season last night to help Preston towards a crucial 2-1 win over Bristol City.

The latest, a chip from 25 yards, was arguably his most impressive.

Browne was pleased that he could help contribute to the team’s win.

He said: “I’ll take any goal to be honest but scoring again today was really important for myself and the team.

“They (Bristol City) are a great team so to go to their place and get the three points and to come here and get another three points is fantastic.”

Browne scored a similar goal against Cardiff earlier on in the season, that being from a further distance out.

When comparing the two goals, he said: “They were quite similar in how they happened.

“The Cardiff goal was about trying to get distance on it and to keep it on target.

“Tonight was more about accuracy than anything.”

Browne’s first half effort gave North End the lead, before Famara Diedhou equailsed for the visitors midway through the second half.

Sean Maguire scored what turned to be the winner for Preston, his second in two games since returning from a long injury lay off, his introduction in the second half changing the complexion of the match.

And Browne was full of praise for his compatriot.

“He has come on in the last two games and made a massive impact.

“With Sean you can give it to his feet and he can hold it up or run in behind.

“His pace and frightening and his finishing is second to none.

“He has come back at the right time – I think any teams coming up against him will fear him and rightly so because of the qualities he possesses.”

Last night’s win meant Preston moved up one place in the table to 8th, now just one point off 6th placed Middlesbrough in the race for the final play off place.

With in form Fulham coming up on Saturday, the team knew how important last night’s game was.

Browne said: “We knew coming here today that it was a massive game, not a defining game but one we knew was important.

“We weren’t focusing on the Fulham game, we put all our focus into today’s game and got our tactics right.

“We came close to the play offs last season and we were disappointed to miss out but we’re taking it game by game and trying to pick up as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.”

Preston’s number eight has had an excellent month, being nominated for the PFA Player of the Month award for the Championship as well as being named man of the match in four successive games.

Browne praised manager Alex Neil for putting faith in him and helping him to improve as a player this season.

“The gaffer is starting to get the best out of me and he’s given me confidence to get into areas to go and attack, take people on and shoot.

“It’s something I needed to add to my game and he’s put belief in me and to go and do it.

“I’m trying to do my best to pay him back and do my best for the team.”

For any fan who doesn’t follow any of the eleven teams left in the FA Cup, there aren’t many standout ties at the last eight stage.

In fact, there is a real prospect of the ‘big four’ (Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham) being the four teams in the semi finals, you’d be forgiven for thinking the conclusion of the tournament is essentially a Premier League knockout.

United eased past Huddersfield, despite VAR controversy, and Chelsea put four past a belligerent Hull side.

City play Wigan tomorrow, although do not count out another win for a Premier League side.

However, the moment of the fifth round was Rochdale’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham at Spotland today.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side travelled to Turin on Tuesday to face Juventus and recorded the same result with a very credible performance.

Today, they were denied a clean route into the quarter finals by League 1’s basement side and 30-year-old Steven Davies.

Keith Hill’s Rochdale were not afraid of the top level opposition they were playing, and took the game to Spurs.

Goals from Lucas and Kane gave the away side the lead despite Ian Henderson’s opener, but the side 64 places behind their opponents equalised in stoppage time.

Another highlight was the 4,500 Coventry fans that travelled to the Amex for their tie against Brighton.

They went 3-0 down but never stopped chanting, and when Jonson Clarke-Harris pulled it back to 3-1 they went into another gear.

For a club that has had as many issues as the Sky Blues have had in the past few years, this cup run brings some hope back to the supporters.

They have club legend Mark Robins back in charge and look set for a League 2 promotion push.

They are not the only club to have had an enjoyable weekend however.

Paul Cook’s Wigan host Manchester City tomorrow, with a big crowd expected.

Latics would surely prefer to still be in the Premier League but memories of their FA Cup win in 2013, which arguably played a part in their subsequent relegation last season, will stay with the club forever.

Most Wigan fans have said they preferred an FA Cup win to staying in the Prem that season.

If they can somehow ensure that history repeats itself for a third time in six seasons by beating Pep Guardiola’s high flyers tomorrow, the conclusion of this year’s FA Cup will definitely be worth watching, with the draw far different to what many predict it will be following the replays.