Football supporters love nothing more than to see a home grown hero coming through the ranks and making the grade with their local team, but it can't be particularly commonplace to find such a player hailing from just over the road!

That's precisely the tale of Gordon Milne, who created a famous family dynasty at Deepdale by following his legendary father Jimmy to the club in the 1950s. Now aged 71 and recently retired from the game, Gordon has many happy memories of being both a player and supporter of this famous club.

He recalled: "I lived on the doorstep of the ground when I was young, because before he became manager, my father Jimmy was the club's trainer - the man with the sponge! I used to go to Deepdale Modern School and our house was in Lowthorpe Road in sight of the ground. We could see the entrance of the Pavilion Stand by looking out of the front of our house, so my mother would always be able to keep a close eye on when my father was coming home!

"This was all in the days of the maximum wage so the players didn't have a lot of money, but we had people like Willie Cunningham living round the corner and it was a really close-knit community with great camaraderie.

"I joined the club straight from school and used to train on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I signed on part-time because in those days most kids had to have a trade as well so I trained to be an apprentice joiner alongside my football up to the age of 21. In that time I got into the first team and played a few games, but unfortunately as soon as you reached the age of 21 you had to go and do two years of National Service.

"I was in the Lancashire Regiment and ended up going all over the place, but in some ways I was fortunate. There were problems in Malaysia at the time but I got an illness just before the intake and missed having to go. It meant that I got stationed at Fulwood Barracks which was ideal because it was just up the road, and though I missed a lot of the football training, I was still able to get a lot of the games in."

Like so many North Enders of a certain vintage, there was one name that particularly sparked excitement for a young Milne.

"One of my greatest memories as a youngster was the number of times my father would take me into the treatment room on a Friday night to see Tom Finney in there, usually with his legs black and blue because opposition players would kick him from pillar to post, yet he never complained.

"Often, he could hardly walk on a Friday and the medical equipment to treat him was very basic, but amazingly he virtually always seemed to recover in time for the Saturday and would still play like a magician, even if it was only on one leg! The very few times that he couldn't play were a massive blow to the public because it was a huge disappointment not to see him in action. He was the perfect player."

Despite sharing his father's obvious talents as a strong and creative wing half, there was no doubting that North End were to be Gordon's first team rather than any of the big city clubs.

"For me, playing for North End was just a dream. In those days everyone supported their local club - if you were born in Blackburn, you supported Blackburn? if you supported Burnley, you supported Burnley? being a Preston lad, I was no different. I felt like I was the luckiest lad on the block.

"However, moving to Liverpool was when my career really took off. My father was great friends with Bill Shankly in his time as Deepdale, and that became a real help when Bill took over at Liverpool as he made me one of his first signings."



After amassing 14 England caps and going on to play in a European Cup Winners Cup Final with Liverpool, Milne wrapped up his career with Blackpool before opting to mirror his father's achievements by heading into the world of management - a career that has only just come to an end.

"My managerial career was very similar to my father's in its early stages, as he went into non-league as player-manager with Wigan and Morecambe before working his way up the leagues. I don't have any real memories of my father's time at Morecambe because I was only young and he wasn't there long, but it was interesting that my career started the same way. Like him, I went to Wigan as player-manager, before spending ten years in charge at Coventry and five years at Leicester.

"It was when I moved to Turkey that I had quite a lot of success, winning three titles and a couple of cups with Besiktas, before a spell managing Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan while Gary Lineker was there, reuniting me with him after I'd managed him at Leicester. After a brief spell with the League Managers Association, I went back to Turkey with Bursaspor and Trabzonspor before returning to Besiktas to help out with their youth development before I eventually retired last year.

"I've decided that I've had enough now, because football is something that you have to dedicate your life to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It gets harder all the time because you have to spend so much time away, and I really just want to make the most of spending time with my grandchildren now."

With time to reflect on all he's achieved, Milne's thoughts inevitably turn back to those hazy days living in the shadow of Deepdale, with one particular iconic structure from his past having just been consigned to history. He mused:

"The old Pavilion Stand was quite a unique building. It was well built and the dressing rooms were big - an idea that was ahead of its time. It's a shame that it's gone now but things move on and it's nice to think that the stadium is still in the same place that it always was.

"I don't get to Deepdale very often these days as we've moved to the Midlands, but my wife's also from Preston and she still has family in the area so we get up from time to time."