Preston North End full-back Callum Davidson has signed a new three-year-deal at Deepdale, keeping him at the Club until the summer of 2011.

Davidson was contracted at North End until the end of the 2008/09 campaign but was delighted to be rewarded with a new deal: "It was nice that the manager thought highly enough of me this season to offer me a new deal. I sat with the Chairman for a couple of minutes and things were sorted and I am absolutely delighted.

"There was no pressure, the one thing since I have been at Preston is that if you do well they will look after you. Obviously we can't compete with the bigger clubs but it is one of the things that makes you want to stay, when you have ten or twelve months left on your contract they come and see you and try and sort something out and it gives you that security, it also makes you feel wanted and that's a big part of being here."


The defender has played for four different managers since arriving on a free transfer from Leicester City in the summer of 2004 but he paid tribute to the professionalism of current boss Alan Irvine and said the his fellow Scotsman was one of the key reasons behind him signing a new deal.

He said: "Under the new manager we have already had a chat about close season and pre-season and it has all been done very professionally. If you are not up to his standards then you won't be here and that's one thing as a player you have got to look at, over the summertime you have got to watch yourself, if you don't do it for the manager in a professional manner then I don't think he will stand for much rubbish.

"One of my biggest reasons for signing is the manager's attitude towards things and the way he wants things done. I think we noticed that in the latter half of the season, there was a lot more discipline from us, and that helped me make up my mind."

Callum has enjoyed one of his most consistent seasons in terms of appearances, making more than 40 starts for the Lilywhites, his best tally in almost 10 years. That run of form comes after a difficult spell of niggly injuries which hampered his ability to put a run of games together.

"I'm obviously over the problems that I have had," said the 31-year-old.

"I was probably over them two or three years ago but the training pitches caused a knee injury, it was just a freak incident on a pitch which was not of the greatest standard. Another thing that is happening since the new manager came in is that we are getting new training pitches and that's something that they have been crying out for at Preston since I have been here and it's great to finally get it.

"You look at that and you look at the new stadium, it's going to be a place that is going to be able to attract people, when I came here I got shown the boardroom and not much else, that was the case for a lot of players, at least now they can go and show people the new stadium and see that it is fantastic and you can look at the training pitches.

"People give the Chairman a lot of criticism but you look at what he has done for Preston, he's always kept the books balanced and he's slowly trying to progress the club forward, in a couple of years time they will have a fantastic little club here, one that can strive to get into the Premiership."



On the day that the season tickets went on sale and the new kit was revealed Davidson admitted himself that he too is looking forward to the new campaign with genuine optimism and excitement.

"It's a little bit like when Billy Davies was here, you can feel Preston going somewhere next season with the professionalism and the discipline that the Gaffer has got going through the team and I think that will reflect in our results.

"It is exciting, it's exciting for me with the new training pitches and the new stadium, everything is going in the right direction. Let's hope that we can have a good pre-season next year, as soon as we were safe my thoughts turned to next season straight away and it is something that I am looking forward to.

"I did ok this last season but I'm pretty harsh on myself and I think I can do a lot better. Let's hope that I can get physically stronger to play in the position and hopefully I can be good for the next three years.

"I've signed for three years and that takes me to 34 and hopefully my best years will come in these next two or three years."

Did you know that the new season ticket booklet contains a voucher which gives you £5 off the price of the new home shirt?