“We can be a new generation of Preston heroes” – how Simon Grayson inspired his Preston side to play-off success

Photo credit: Carl Court (Getty Images)

Former Preston North End manager Simon Grayson has spoken about how he inspired his side to win the League One play-offs in 2015.

Having lost to Rotherham United in the semi-finals the previous year, Grayson’s side looked set to gain automatic promotion to the Championship, sitting pretty in second place and undefeated since January, with just one league game remaining against Colchester United.

However, Colchester caused an upset as they secured the win they needed to maintain their League One status and subsequently the Lilywhites were knocked out of second place, a position they had occupied since early March.

Grayson recalls how disheartened the squad was at the prospect of having to go through the play-offs once again.

“We were flying back from Colchester and the bus was so quiet,” said Grayson.

“I had to stop the bus halfway back to the airport and find a way of remotivating the players.”

Preston’s record in play-off games at the time was hardly promising, having failed to win in any of their previous nine attempts.

But Grayson remained optimistic and told his players, “We cannot feel sorry for ourselves anymore. We’ve missed out on an opportunity, but we’ve still got a second chance.”

“We could be here now, on this bus, finished seventh and that’s us finished.

“We’ve still got a second chance.”

Grayson had previously won play-offs as both a player and a manager with Leicester City and Blackpool respectively and could not overstate the importance of having “that positive mindset” going into these sorts of matches.

He told his players: “We can go forward, we can be positive, we can be a new generation of Preston heroes where we can come through and win the play-offs.

“That was the mindset and the philosophy that I gave to the players,” he added.

It paid off as the Lilywhites subsequently went on to comfortably beat Chesterfield 4-0 in the semi-final over two legs and repeated the scoreline at Wembley in the final against Swindon Town, securing promotion and finally overcoming the club’s play-off hoodoo.

They have remained in the Championship ever since and have even flirted with promotion to the Premier League on several occasions under Alex Neil, who succeeded Grayson in 2017.

Meanwhile Grayson, the mastermind behind their 2015 play-off success, has been without a job since February 2020, when he was let go by Blackpool, but is enthusiastic at the prospect at getting back into football management.

“I want to go back to work because of the passion that you’ve got inside you,” he said.

“Still I’ve got that passion to be out on the touchline, coaching, developing players.”