“Well, we have a 6ft 7in centre-forward, and that might help,” Simon Grayson jokes in response to the inevitable question about whether Preston North End might be prepared to mix it up a little in Saturday night’s FA Cup third-round tie against Arsenal.
“We are not really a physical side though, we actually have some decent young players coming through and this is an opportunity for them to make a name for themselves. No disrespect to our lads, but we are not the finished article like Arsenal. Most of my squad are misfits and cast-offs from other clubs that we are trying to improve and mould into a team on the training pitch.”
Simon Makienok, the giant Danish striker on loan to Preston from Palermo, certainly fits that description, as in another way does Aiden McGeady, at Deepdale on loan from Everton after another false start with Sheffield Wednesday. “We’ve got Aiden until the end of the season and everyone here think’s he’s great,” Grayson says.
“We felt we needed someone with the x-factor, and he’s got the quickest feet I’ve ever seen. I think he’s been a bit frustrated at his last couple of clubs, perhaps not being allowed to do what he does best, but at Preston we just encourage him to run with the ball, and if he loses it, do it again. That’s what makes him feel good, and the fans enjoy watching him. He’s a matchwinner, and hopefully he can win us the match against Arsenal.”
Grayson has come up against Arsenal before in his managerial career, when in charge of Leeds six years ago, and remembers the occasion principally for Arsène Wenger’s willingness to chat and pass on tips after the Premier League side had progressed. “You don’t normally get too long with opposing managers after games,” he says.
“Both sides have media to do and the away team usually want to get away, but I wanted to pick his brains after the game and Arsène gave me and my staff about 20 minutes. He probably got fed up of us all asking questions, but he was happy to talk to us about the best way to organise training schedules. You are always looking for bits of information like that, you can learn a lot from the top managers.”
Grayson, now with his fourth Championship club and content to turn down offers from ostensibly bigger teams to continue improving Preston – “I’ve had opportunities to leave but loyalty is a two-way thing” – still harbours ambitions of being a top manager himself. Or at least working in the Premier League.
“People employ a lot more foreigners in the Premier League now; the only real chance for a manager like me to work at that level is to take a team up,” he says. “That’s a sad indictment of the prospects for Championship managers, but you just have to keep plugging away. There are some fantastic managers in this division but foreign owners want bigger names.
“There are some good foreign managers, without a doubt, but the balance could be better. I don’t think some of the owners in the Premier League are aware of the work being done in the leagues below, because capable English managers are being overlooked.”
Grayson’s target at the start of the season was simply to keep Preston in the division, and if possible improve on last term’s 11th-place finish, with Championship solidity the overall aim. All their neighbours, from Bolton to Blackburn to Burnley, Blackpool and Wigan, have tried life in the Premier League, though some of them are still bearing the scars. If Preston ever make it, Grayson says, it will not be through taking any short cuts.
“We do have aspirations to reach the Premier League, just like every other team in the Championship, but we won’t be rushing it,” he says. “It’s all about moving forward gradually. We haven’t got the finances to do it quickly, but we are one of the few clubs in the country who are debt-free. We are not under any pressure from the people above, we just want to try to keep progressing season on season.
“If we do get to the Premier League one day it won’t be through throwing stupid money at it. That’s the one thing we will never do, and that why I will always look up to a manager like Arsène Wenger. He is a footballing man who has always had the same philosophy. You cannot knock what he has done for his football club over the years. He probably doesn’t need another grilling from me after the game but I’m sure he’ll still call in to sample our scampi, chicken and pies.”
