Deepdale is a stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End F.C. and England's National Football Museum. Preston is one of the founder members of the football league. Of all the founder members Preston is the only team to be still playing at its original ground.

The land originally was Deepdale Farm and was used by the cricket and rugby teams of which spawned the football side. Leased on January 21 1875 by the town's North End sports club, it hosted its first association football match on October 5 1878. The league record attendance for PNE at Deepdale is 42,684 v Arsenal F.C. in the First Division, 23 April 1938.

All four of the stands have now been replaced by new all seated structures named after famous players to grace PNE over the years. These are Tom Finney, Bill Shankly, Alan Kelly and the newly opened 'invincibles' stand. The fourth old 'Pavilion' stand, now called the 'invincibles' stand, which was first opened for the 2008/2009 season, is named after the Preston North End team of 1888/1889 that was the first football team ever, to go an entire season unbeaten in the league.. Deepdale is now a 24,500 capacity all seater stadium after the addition of the stand.

The woman's team Dick, Kerr's Ladies also called Deepdale home, often beating men's professional teams and attracting crowds of up to 53,000. Reflecting this history, the venue was used during the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship.

The nearby Deepdale railway station closed to regular passenger services on 31 May 1930.

The original plans for the re-developed stadium were inspired by the Stadio Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Italy.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Located at the Deepdale stadium in Preston, the museum opened in June 2001. It is an independent charity holding the following collections:

• The FIFA Museum Collection
• The Football Association Collection
• The Football League Collection.
• The Wembley Stadium Collection.
• The FIFA Book Collection
• The People’s Collection
• The Preston North End F.C. Collection
• The Harry Langton Collection
• The Sir Stanley Matthews Collection
• The Littlewoods Collection

At any time, around 2,000 items from the museum’s collections are on display, with a further 30,000 items held. Key items include:

• One of the two balls used in the first World Cup Final in 1930.
• The ball from the 1966 World Cup Final.
• The replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy, made in secret by the FA in 1966 after the original was stolen, and paraded by the England players at the World Cup Final in 1966.
• The England captain’s jersey and cap from the world’s first official international football match, England v Scotland, in 1872.
• The world’s oldest women’s football kit, from the 1890s.
• The football shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the infamous "hand of god" goal against England in the 1986 World Cup

Tom Finney Statue

Outisde the Tom Finney Stand, is a statue of the famous player himself. The statue unveiled in July 2004, was inspired by a photo taken at the Chelsea versus PNE game played at Stamford Bridge, in 1956. After a large downpour before kick off, parts of the pitch were covered in water, but the game was still allowed to start. Whilst with the ball and having just got around a defender Finney ended up in one of the pools of water. A photographer captured the moment and the photo later won the 'Sports Photograph Of The Year Award'.

The statue sculpted by Sardarjee Om Puri, pays tribute to the player and that 'splash' moment. The original photo of the Splash can be seen on the official Preston North End website.

References

External links

• Webcam showing construction of the fourth Stand