Preston North End have offered midfield duo Phil Appiah and Nathan Fairhurst professional contracts for the 2008/09 campaign.

The PNE scholars were told the news on Friday morning and the unfortunate flipside is that nine youngsters have been released to pursue their careers elsewhere.

Born in Toronto, Appiah joined the Lilywhites from Fulham in the summer of 2006 and developed into a tough-tackling central midfielder with a great work ethic and technique. Fairhurst has already been at North End for nine years having progressed through the centre of excellence, Nathan hails from the same village as Paul McKenna and could be described as a similar sort of player as the current PNE skipper.

Speaking about the news, Preston North End's Director of Youth Dean Ramsdale said: "We call it Black Friday down at the training ground because it is never an enjoyable part of what you do, it's great for the boys who get something, disappointing for the boys who don't. When you've had them all for two years you get to know them very well, both on the footballing side and away from that, all eleven are good lads but at the end of the day it is a football decision and that decision has been made by a number of people. We've looked at reserve games and we've spoken about what we have seen on the training ground and we are delighted that two of the scholars have been offered a professional contract."

Having worked so hard to get themselves into a position to be offered professional contracts the duo must now really knuckle down in what will be a defining year for the duo, a point that Ramsdale is quick to underline.

"You work hard from when you start playing football, " Ramsdale said.

"As a seven year old the aim is to get a scholarship, all eleven boys got that, they've worked two years to get a pro-contract and two of them have got that. The pair of them are now coming in right back at the bottom of the rung again, they've got a year-long opportunity to prove to the manager and to Rob Kelly and Billy Barr that they are worthy of another contract. They will only do that by working hard, listening to what the coaches are telling them and showing that in performances."

The pair may both operate in the same area of the pitch but Ramsdale is quick to point out that both players, though midfielders, bring different elements to the game.

"Both are different. It's caused us a problem for two years because for whatever reason performances have not been spectacular when they have both played together. We've had a few pairings this year and more often than not the different pairings have worked out better on results and performances, but you look at each player on their own individual abilities.



"Phil puts himself about, he can win headers, dominates the game a little bit in the middle of the park, what he's got to learn is that once he's got the ball, what is he going to do with it? He could probably be a little bit tidier. Nathan is the tidier of the two in terms of his passing, he's started to put his foot in a little bit, make a few tackes and we commented on that the other day, he made two tackles the other day against Blackpool and that probably brings his tally for the season to three, Nathan's also got an eye for goal.

"They're both centre-midfield players but they are both different and I think that's what we have looked at. They've both got a good attitude in terms of wanting to work and wanting to make a career out of football."

That one word, attitude, is a major part of what can make or break a young footballer in today's game. It's been a key factor in getting players professional contracts and Ramsdale admits that it will also be a key element in whether these two players make it in the professional environment.

"It's a massive part of the game today," Ramsdale said.

"I said to the boys from day one when Jamie and I came to the Club. At the end of the day there'd be one person that gets a player a contract and that's the player themselves. You've got to be able to look us in the eye and say that you have given us 110 per cent, every day that you have come in and I think the two boys that have done that have been consistently better are the boys that have come in. Having said that, a lot of the other boys have worked hard since they have come in, we just think that that next step is probably going to be too much for them at this level."

Whilst it's a disappointing day for those nine players released it is by no means the end of the road in terms of their footballing career. There have been many famous examples of players making the grade after being released as a youngster, Preston's very own Neal Trotman was released by Burnley as a scholar before making his mark at Oldham and earning a big-money move to PNE.

Ramsdale said: "They are all good kids, they are all good lads, they have all got ability, they wouldn't be where they were if they didn't have that ability. Other people saw that ability, the boys were selected before we came to the club but I've enjoyed working for two years with them and you want them to go out and make a living in the game. I don't think everyone of them will make a living in the game because every club in the country is doing what we are doing but we have told them, look at Neal Trotman, he got released at exactly the same age and Preston have now paid a lot of money to make him a Championship footballer. Hopefully some of the boys go on to do that."