The Preston North End Connection

An in-depth examination of the relationships between the clubs from 1901 to 1972... and beyond!

By Peter Hawkridge

The history between Barrow AFC and Preston North End goes as far back as the historical day of Tuesday 16th July 1901, when Preston-born John Holsall Hind chaired a meeting at the Volunteer Drill Hall that would end with the formation of Barrow Association Football Club.

During the meeting, Hind outlined his vision for the prospective new club and introduced the very first signing, one Moses Sanders, who would act as first team captain and coach. Sanders had previously played for Preston North End and Woolwich Arsenal and during the 1901-02 season, would be instrumental in bringing in several new players, including former Preston North End teammates, John Cunningham, William Eccleston and Bob Barr.

Sanders also persuaded the Lilywhites to send a team to the Strawberry Ground on 9th September and a bumper crowd of around 4000 spectators were entertained to a thrilling exhibition, during which, George Hammond gave Barrow the lead, but the football league side managed to equalise through Joe Walton.

The Lilywhites visited the Strawberry Ground for another friendly the following season and came away with a 2-0 win, but it would be more than 3½ years before the two teams met again and by this time, Barrow had moved to Little Park in Roose.

The match at Little Park took place on 22nd April 1907 and had been arranged as part of William Sanderson's £30 transfer from Barrow to Preston and the tricky left winger scored the opening goal in a 2-1 win for Barrow in front of 3000 spectators.

The following season, the two sides met in the third round of the Lancashire Senior Cup at Deepdale to mark the very first competitive match between the two sides but in a rather one-sided affair, Preston thrashed Barrow 4-0, and the score could have been far greater had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper Fred Porter.

During the Little Park years, several players with connections to both sides played for Barrow. Tom Smith, Henry Worthington, Herbert Butterworth, Charles Griffiths, Eversley Mansfield, and William Swarbrick all enjoyed varying spells of success with the club and during what would turn out to be Barrow's final season at Little Park, the Lilywhites would return for another friendly.

In August 1908, Barrow signed centre forward Richard "Dick" Smith from Sheffield United and during the opening month of the season, Smith scored 8 goals from only 7 games, including two hat-tricks.

Smith had been due to appear for Barrow in their F.A. Cup match against Penrith on 3rd October, but prior to the match it had been discovered that Smith had signed for Ilkeston United back in June and had illegally played for Barrow while registered as an Ilkeston player.

The consequence of Smith's duplicate registration was a one-month ban for the player and a £1 fine for Barrow but to make matters worse, during the month of Smith's ban, Barrow were knocked out of both the F.A. Cup and the Lancashire Senior Cup.

Smith returned to the side in November and added another 7 goals from only 6 games before Preston offered Barrow £175 plus full-back Henry Oddie to secure the prolific centre forward.

The transfer was completed on 16th December 1908 and as part of the deal, Preston returned to Little Park the following April for a friendly match, which ended in a 3-1 defeat for Barrow in front of a decent crowd of 2500.

The Lilywhites first visited Holker Street during the First World War for a friendly match in October 1915 and a crowd of 600 were treated to a thrilling encounter that ended with a 6-3 defeat for a Barrow side that included a mixture of guest players and local prospects.

Prior to Barrow's entry into the Football League in 1921, the two sides would meet for another friendly in September 1919 that ended in a 1-1 draw and during the Lancashire Combination years either side of the war, William Cox, Charles Gillibrand, William Main, Percy Toone, William Dawson, John Morley and James Yates would turn out for Barrow.

During the 1919-20 season, Dalton Causals goalkeeper George Prout made his Barrow debut and would go on to play for Preston in the first division during the 1920's.

When Barrow entered the Football League, they remained in Division Three North from 1921 until 1958, when they joined the newly formed Division 4, while Preston remained in the top two divisions until 1970, by which time, Barrow had been relegated to Division 4 after a three-season spell in Division 3.

Despite the clear divisional gap, the two clubs did manage to play in the same division for one single season when they both competed in Division 3 North West during the 1939-40 wartime season, with Preston completing the "double" over Barrow, winning the first match at Deepdale 3-2 and the return match at Holker Street 4-1.

During the Football League years, the two clubs met 9 times in the Lancashire Senior Cup, with Barrow having won 5 and Preston having won 4 of the meetings between the two sides but probably the two most important matches were the semi-final ties of 1952 and 1955, which were both won by Barrow.

In 1952 Barrow defeated Preston 3-0 at Holker Street thanks to goals from William Hannah (2) and Billy Gordon to progress to the final for the very first time in the club's history but despite having home advantage in front of 10,516 supporters against Burnley, a late Albert Cheeseborough goal scored with only 8 minutes remaining, proved enough to take the cup to East Lancashire.

Three years later, Barrow faced Preston in the semi-final once again at Holker Street and the evening proved to be one to forget for Preston debutant Tony Singleton, who scored two first-half headers past his own goalkeeper to give the home side an early 2-0 lead and thanks to a third goal from Jimmy Collins, Barrow went into the interval with a 3-0 lead.

Preston goalkeeper Jim Knowles performed heroics throughout the game, with several excellent saves but he was powerless to stop Ronnie Codd from adding a fourth goal for Barrow late in the second half and despite a late consolation goal from the visitors, Barrow comfortably won the tie 4-1 to qualify for their second final of the decade.

Once again, Barrow had home advantage in the final but on this occasion, their opponents were Oldham Athletic and in front of 6110 supporters, goals from Jimmy Collins and Billy Gordon enabled Barrow to lift the Lancashire Senior Cup for the very first time.

The last competitive match between the two sides came during Barrow's ill-fated 1971-72 campaign which ended with the club failing to gain re-election to the Football League.

On 18th August 1971, Barrow were drawn at home against Preston in the first round of the Football League Cup and unsurprisingly, the Second Division side took the honours with a 2-0 win before a decent crowd of 4319.

During Barrow's first spell in the Football League, more than 30 players appeared for both clubs with varying degrees of success. Joe Brain, Fred Broadhurst, William Murray, Bernard Sharkey, James Phizacklea, Norman Wharton and Arthur Rosbotham were among the best of the pre-war players, while Alec Alston, Fred Else, Jack Hindle, William Hannah, Andrew McLaren, George Summerbee, Billy Rogers and Tommy Thompson enjoyed successful post-war spells with Barrow.

The Managers

In March 1947, Barrow appointed Preston North End and Scotland full-back Andy Beattie as their secretary-manager on the provision that he retired from playing, even though Beattie was only 33 years old at the time. Barrow ended the season with a creditable ninth place finish and Beattie prepared for the forthcoming '47-48 season by calling the players back for pre-season training a month before the start of the campaign, something that had never been done before. Beattie brought in several new signings for the campaign, including Billy Rogers from Blackburn and former Preston North End players George Summerbee, Jack Hindle and Billy Nuttall.

Barrow made a good start to the season, especially away from home, where they remained unbeaten until 24th January, when they lost 1-0 at Mansfield Town.

On Boxing Day 1947, Barrow defeated Halifax Town 2-1 to go top of the league table for the very first time in the club's history but despite having arguably the best defence in the league, thanks to the consistent form of full-backs Lance Hall and Alex McIntosh and the half-back line of Billy Lee, George Forbes and George Summerbee, Barrow struggled to score goals and ended the campaign in seventh place.

In the F.A. Cup, Barrow defeated Carlisle United and Runcorn to set up a third-round tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where Barrow endured a thumping 5-0 defeat in front of 44,336 supporters.

Chelsea would have won by a greater margin had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper Alex Roxburgh, who produced several good saves and even saved a second-half penalty. The match generated gate receipts of £3,840 and Barrow returned home £900 richer from the occasion.

The club prepared for the forthcoming '48-49 season with several ground improvements, including the replacement of the terracing around the ground, which cost around £3500 and increased the capacity of Holker Street to 20,000.

On Friday 6th August 1948, Andy Beattie submitted his resignation as manager of the club, citing differences with chairman John Edward Baker over club policy.

The directors held an emergency meeting and rejected Beattie's resignation, hoping that the differences could be resolved but at a second meeting, the chairman and two directors resigned, which enabled Beattie to withdraw his resignation and continue his role as manager.

For the new season, Jimmy Collins arrived from Derby County, but Barrow endured a nightmare start, failing to score in their opening four games and managing to score two goals on only one occasion during an 11-game winless run that ended on 9th October with a 1-0 win at Crewe Alexandra.

During the course of the season, Beattie's management came under constant scrutiny, despite operating with meagre support from the club's directors but unbeknown to the club, Stockport County had made several secretive approaches to Beattie and on Tuesday 29th March, the Barrow directors reluctantly agreed to release him from his contract on 30th April.

The tactics employed by Stockport had clearly enraged the Barrow directors but after Beattie had expressed his desire for a "fresh challenge", the directors opted to allow his release and consider their options.

Andy Beattie remained a popular figure with the Barrow supporters and during his time at the club, he introduced some of the best players to have ever played at Holker Street, including George Summerbee, Billy Rogers, Billy Lee and Jimmy Collins.

Beattie left the club at the end of the '48-49 season, having won a creditable 37.89% of his games in charge.

Former Preston right-back Willie Brown was appointed manager of Barrow in July 1958 and endured a dreadful campaign that ended with the club finishing second from bottom in the Fourth Division, only two points ahead of Southport and having conceded 104 goals in the process.

Despite the poor league form, in the F.A Cup Barrow defeated Notts County and Hartlepools United to set up a home tie in the third round against the current First Division champions Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The tie was due to take place on Saturday 10th January and on the day, the town was covered by a blanket of snow but thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, including schoolchildren, the game went ahead as planned and Holker Street was packed to the rafters with 16,340 supporters when the two teams took to the field. Wolves took the lead as many expected but when Jackie Robertson equalised for Barrow, the roar from the crowd could be heard in Dalton.

During the second half, Wolves manager Stan Cullis swapped his wingers, and the change immediately paid dividends as they regained the lead, but Barrow fought back, and Jack Keen equalised for the second time, but the First Division side proved to be too powerful for Barrow in attack and scored two late goals to win the tie 4-2.

Before the start of the 1959-60 season, Brown resigned from his position and never managed another club.

Probably the most bizarre and shortest managerial appointment in the club's history came during the summer of 1977 when former Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End midfielder David Hughes was appointed.

After the departure of Ron Yeats at the end of February 1977, the Barrow directors took their time over the appointment of his successor and appointed former players Billy McAdams and Alan Coglan as caretaker managers.

At a board meeting on the evening of Monday 11th July, the directors discussed several candidates, including players John Martin and Brian McManus but eventually decided to offer the job to 28-year-old David Hughes.

Hughes had started his career as an apprentice at Blackpool, alongside Emlyn Hughes and Alan Ball and had also played for Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End and Southport.

Rather than continue playing in the Football League, Hughes formally accepted the job to become Barrow's youngest ever player/manager on Wednesday 13th July and travelled to Barrow the following day (14th) to meet the board and discuss the conditions of his contract. After meeting with the directors, viewing the club's facilities and discussing the terms of his contract, Hughes took charge of a training session with several players, then returned home to finalise his relocation to Barrow.

Hughes had been due to return to Barrow the following Tuesday (19th July) to meet the entire squad, including the players based outside the Furness area and to officially sign his contract but on the evening of Friday 15th July, Hughes phoned Barrow chairman Bill McCullough to inform him that he wouldn't be signing the contract and had left the club.

McCullough was understandably shocked by the announcement and even more so when Hughes informed him that the Barrow squad was by no means up to Northern Premier League standard and required a complete overhaul.

When Hughes took the training session on 14th July, several key players were absent, including Brian McManus, Charlie Gisbourne and Peter Kane and only five of those present had played for the first team.

Despite being informed of the facts, Hughes stood by his decision to leave the club and left a shocked vice-chairman, Max Rattray to explain the news to the local press.

Leaving the managerial position after only 24 hours set an unwanted club record for Barrow and nationally is only second to Leroy Rosenior's 10-minute tenure as manager of Torquay United in 2007.

Brian McManus would eventually succeed David Hughes as Barrow manager and would remain in charge until November 1979, by which time, Barrow had become founder members of the Alliance Premier League.

From left – Max Rattray (vice-chairman), David Pryer (financial director), David Hughes and Bill McCullough (chairman).

After starting the 1984-85 Gola League campaign with a 12-game winless run and being dumped out of the F.A. Cup after a 5-0 thrashing at Brandon United, Barrow manager Maurice Whittle was replaced by former Liverpool and Everton striker David Johnson. Johnson had spent the previous season at Preston North End and his appointment as caretaker manager was seen by many fans as a statement of intent from the club's directors. Johnson's first game in charge was a 3-1 defeat at Runcorn but Barrow defeated Boston United 2-1 at Holker Street to earn their first win of the season at the 14th attempt!

Despite breaking their winless run, Barrow's form remained dre

adful, even with Johnson in the side, as the team conceded plenty of goals and remained rooted to the bottom of the league table throughout the season.

Even the arrival of former million-pound England International striker Kevin Reeves and former Liverpool left-back Brian Kettle failed to change the club's fortunes and after a 2-0 defeat at Cheltenham in March, Johnson left the club and joined Naxxar Lions in Malta.

Even though survival was almost mathematically impossible, chairman Bill McCullough managed to persuade Gateshead boss Ray Wilkie to accept the position of manager on 25th March 1986, despite the financial position of the club and imminent relegation.

Wilkie would eventually build a legendary squad that would win the HFS Loans League title in 1989 and the F.A. Trophy at Wembley in 1990, memories that remain with many fans to this very day.

More recently, Rob Kelly had two spells as caretaker manager at Preston North End before joining Barrow as assistant to manager David Dunn in September 2020.

After the dismissal of Dunn on 13th December 2020, Kelly was appointed caretaker manager and led the club to successive victories over Cheltenham Town and Port Vale before the appointment of Michael Jolley later that month.

The 2-0 victory over Cheltenham would prove historic due to the fact that it was the first Football League game since the Exeter City game on 29th April 1972 to be played before spectators and the first in front of the Holker Street fans since the Brentford match on 24th April 1972.

Jolley's tenure at Holker Street proved disastrous and after his dismissal on 21st February 2021, Kelly resumed the role of caretaker manager and successfully secured the club's Football League status. A banner was erected at the Holker Street end of the ground with the slogan "Kelly's Heroes" in honour of his achievements at the club and is still visible on matchdays. At the end of the season, Kelly turned down the manager's job on a permanent basis and left the club on 26th May.

After a spell at Wigan Athletic, Kelly returned to Preston on 18th July 2023 as a first team coach alongside manager Ryan Lowe, who he had previously worked with at Bury.