William Sudell: the
first great manager
William Sudell was the man most
responsible for Preston’s success. He joined the club in
1867 and became manager in 1881.
Sudell wanted Preston North End to be the best team in the
country. He brought in new Scottish players, including a
defender called Nick Ross. 
Ross was perhaps the first player to
think seriously about tactics in football.
Sudell and Ross made the other players think about the way
they played. They even brought a blackboard into the
dressing room before matches to plan how to beat the
opposition.
Preston became known as ‘the Invincibles’ - because they
almost never lost. In the three seasons between 1887 and
1890 they won the League three times and the Cup twice.
Football is not, however, a game in which any team remains
invincible forever. Though they won the Cup again in 1938,
Preston never again won the League. In 1961 they were
relegated, and they have never returned to English
f
ootball's top division.
Stolen Money
William Suddell was the first
great football manager. He had turned a small club into the
best football team in the England in seven years. In 1889
he became the Football Leagues first treasurer.
Sadly, the fall of William Sudell was almost as fast as his
rise. In the early 1890s the mill he worked for got into
financial trouble. Rumours started that Sudell had stolen
money from his employer to pay the wages of Preston
players.
In 1892 he left his job as League treasurer, and two years
later he left Preston North End. In 1895 William Suddell
was sent to prison for three years. He left prison in 1898
and went to South Africa. In South Africa he worked for a
newspaper. He died there in 1911.