A week by week lookback at Preston North End's history - with a slightly different twist...

P is for plastic pitch, now consigned to history and remembered fondly - well, remembered by PNE fans anyway!

The En-Tout-Cas plastic pitch was laid in 1986, and North Enders first had the treat of watching football on a plastic surface when Swansea City visited on August 30 1986.

A 4,377 crowd saw North End win 2-0.

Promotion came at the end of that season, although most will say that is down to their excellent away record rather than the pitch.

The board decided grass was better in the 1990s, swapping the plastic for grass, much to the delight of all those who played at Deepdale, probably because it caused fewer cuts and bruises!

Q is for quickest goals, something Bobby Langton can boast scoring.

He hit a goal after just seven seconds as PNE took on Manchester City at Maine Road.

However, after being reduced to 10 men, PNE went on to lose 2-1 late on.

The second fastest, claim the records, was scored in January 1914 within 10 seconds of the start.

R is for relegation, that part of football which brings with it an indescribable feeling of anguish - something all North End fans have experienced.

The Lilywhites have been relegated 11 times, the first time in 1898 after toying with the situation for the three previous seasons.

The soon slipped up again in the 1902 season, eight season after winning promotion.

They went down again in 1914, just 12 months after winning the Second Division honours.

Relegation loomed again in 1925, North End didn't return to the top flight until 1934.

It wasn't to last, and 14 years later, they were back down again.

Returning to the top league, they spent 10 enjoyable years among the leading pack before dropping back down in 1960-61 season.

Relegation time came again in 1969, and although they bounced back the next season, there was more relegation agony on the way.

And what pain it was! Relegated to the Fourth Division in 1985 for the first time in the club's history, things looked bad.

Promotion was achieved again before the team were relegated in 1993, soon to climb back into the second division (the old third) in 1996.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.