Ranked: The top 10 best players Preston North End have produced from their academy – Do you agree? | OneFootball

If there’s one thing that some Preston North End fans would like the club to do, it’s to invest more into the club’s academy structure.

The system has seemingly been neglected for a while, with the club running a ‘Category Three‘ set-up – and they won’t move up a level due to the costs associated with it.

North End are lagging behind when it comes to their youth system, with neighbours Blackburn Rovers running the highest tier of academy, and took Tyrhys Dolan off PNE’s hands after he wasn’t offered a contract last season – even Fleetwood Town are moving up to Level Two with their fantastic facilities at Poolfoot Farm.

It’s an area that the club could potentially strengthen, but players who have gone on to forge decent Premier League and Championship careers have come out of the youth system of North End.

Obviously footballing greats such as Sir Tom Finney and Mark Lawrenson came through as youngsters at the club during their era, but it wasn’t in an academy setup – all the players that you’re about to see came through from the 1990s onwards and we’ve ranked them from 10th to 1st.

North End brought quite a few youth players through into the first team between the years 2009 and 2011, and it was Darren Ferguson who gave right-back McLaughlin his bow back in November 2010.

McLaughlin showed a lot of early promise for Preston, but a leg break suffered just three months after his debut was a cruel blow which affected his future at Deepdale.

A year later, McLaughlin was transfer listed by Graham Westley and was ostracised from the squad along with seven others during pre-season training, which brought an end to the Northern Irishman’s spell at North End.

He went on to forge a good career out for himself though – McLaughlin has earned 36 caps for his country, played at EURO 2016 and got back into Championship football with Millwall a few years ago, but is now at League One side Sunderland.

Another player to come through at the same time as McLaughlin, Mayor looked to be the best youth player to come through the ranks for a number of years, with Ferguson the manager again to thrust him into the first team picture in 2010.

Mayor made 28 Championship appearances for PNE and in the 2011/12 League One season, Mayor was named the club’s Young Player of the Year.

Sheffield Wednesday recognised his talents in 2012 though and took him to the Championship, but he spent most years at Bury – six of them to be precise – and gained a reputation as one of League One’s most talented, skilful players in that time.

At the age of 30, Mayor is still plying his trade in the third tier with Plymouth Argyle – a long, long away from his Lancashire roots.

Lucas starred for a number of clubs during his career, but it was at PNE where he started and played for the most after beginning  his professional life at his hometown club in 1994.

He wasn’t seen much in PNE’s 1999/2000 League One-winning season, with Tepi Moilanen becoming the club’s first-choice, but the following season in the Championship which saw North End make the play offs also saw Lucas regain the starting shirt.

Lucas was eventually replaced in 2003 by the more experienced Jonathan Gould, but he went on to have decent spells with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Swindon before retiring in 2015.

Wright’s career might not have taken off if it wasn’t for Graham Westley, who attempted to get rid of the Aussie defender in 2012 but was thwarted by club owner Trevor Hemmings.

A regular starter between 2012 and 2016, Wright became an Australia international whilst at Deepdale and is a real academy success story.

Wright didn’t stick around though when an offer came in from Bristol City in 2017 – he departed as he saw a better path to the Premier League with the Robins than with PNE – but that didn’t end up working out for him.

Both clubs remain in the Championship whilst Wright is now in League One with Sunderland, and with the way things are going he may be facing the Lilywhites next season with the Black Cats.

Now this one could be seen as contentious, as Pilkington only spent one year at North End as a teenager before moving on to the academies of both Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers.

He didn’t end up making it at any of the three clubs, but ended up getting his break at Stockport County in 2006, who signed him from non-league Atherton Collieries, who in turn signed him up after he was spotted playing for Myerscough College, which is situated not far from Preston.

Pilkington went on to forge himself a successful career as a Premier League and Championship player for the likes of Norwich, Cardiff and Wigan, which included an eight goal haul for the Canaries in the top flight in the 2011/12 season – he may be the one that got away for North End.

Like Lucas who came in at number eight, Lonergan is Preston-born and was handed his debut in 2000 by David Moyes as a 16-year-old – unfortunately he came up against Coventry City in the League Cup and let four goals in.

Lonergan didn’t let that put him down though, but he had to wait a while to get his big break at North End. He had to spend time as understudy to both Jonathan Gould and Carlo Nash, but once the latter departed in 2007, Lonergan became the undisputed first-choice at Deepdale for the next four seasons.

‘Lonners’ was the Fans’ Player of the Year in both the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons, and following his departure in 2011 following the club’s relegation to League One, he remained a Championship player for a number of years with Leeds, Bolton and Fulham.

After an extended stint of loan spells that took him from Newport all the way up to York, Davies became a first-team regular under Alex Neil in 2017, and developed into one of the best Championship centre-backs.

His unique combination of pace and power for a centre-back – as well as being left-footed – meant that Davies was always set for bigger things than the second tier of English football.

Few would have predicted though where he would have gone after departing North End – as on transfer deadline day last month he made a shock move to Premier League champions Liverpool.

He may not have made an appearance for the Reds yet, but he will no doubt be a regular for a Premier League team in the future and is one of the best players to come out of PNE’s academy.

Not many PNE academy products have made Premier League appearances, but Brownhill is one of them.

The midfielder was picked up by North End following his release from Manchester United in 2012, joining as a first-year scholar and only had to wait a year before making his first team debut.

Brownhill was clearly talented but when North End were promoted to the Championship in 2015, Simon Grayson was reluctant to use him much and he ended up joining League One Barnsley on loan, before signing for Bristol City months later on a permanent deal.

Many PNE fans thought it would be a move they’d end up regretting, and some three-and-a-half years later their fears were proven correct as he joined North End’s Lancashire rivals Burnley in a £9 million deal, and he’s now a regular fixture in the Premier League.

He may have never played in the Premier League, but McKenna epitomised consistency for the 11 years he was a regular in PNE’s first team, and many would agree that he deserved at least one season in the top flight.

A local lad, McKenna broke into the senior ranks in 1996, but only became a mainstay in 1998 – he ended up making 477 appearances for the Lilywhites and was named the PFA Championship Player of the Year in the 2004/05 season that North End narrowly missed out on Premier League promotion.

McKenna ended up reuniting with Billy Davies at Nottingham Forest in 2009 and then went on to Hull City, but he will always be remembered as PNE through and through.

The only player to become a Premier League mainstay in this list is Kilbane, who made PNE a decent wedge in 1997 when he departed for West Brom for £1 million.

Kilbane came through the PNE youth system to become a professional in 1995, and his move to the Baggies came after just 48 league appearances for North End.

A long, successful career saw Kilbane play in the top flight for Sunderland, Everton, Wigan and Hull City, whilst also taking in 110 caps for the Republic of Ireland – how PNE could do with someone with Kilbane’s quality to come through their academy in the next few years…