The Opposition View: Preston

Preston fan Dino Constovalosis gives his answers to the questions I put to him ahead of Saturday's match.

As the only team not to have put points on the board in the Championship, are you worried about what the season holds?

It's not been a good start to the season by any stretch of the imagination but Doncaster are a good side at this level and Swansea away is easily one of the toughest trips all season. Add in a lot of new faces and a lot of injuries and I can't say I'm surprised we're currently holding the rest of the table up.

Darren Ferguson was a candidate to replace Paul Hart when he was sacked from Pompey. What do you make of the job he has done at Preston so far?

Ferguson has not had an easy time at Deepdale so far. He took over a very poor group of players and just about managed to drag us over the finish line last year with our Championship status still on tact.

This summer, following a winding up order and then takeover he's been under strict orders to cut the wage bill and squad size. He's only been able to spend money on one player (400k) and the rest have been frees and loans, whilst also being asked to promote a fair few of the youth team into the first team which is good for the future but means we could struggle in the short term. All in all, the jury is probably still out on him but most appreciate he's working in very difficult circumstances.

Can we have our money back for David Nugent please?

Ha! It's just as well we got all our money before you lot went tits-up. He was never worth £6 million in reality but that's why the likes of Harry Redknapp exist. Obviously that amount was a bargain for a "t'riffic" player like Nuge.

On a serious note, Nugent is a cult hero at Deepdale. Did you expect him to make more of his career thus far?

Yes and No. When he left us had two offers - one from you and one from Sunderland. If he'd have chosen the other one and gone to Sunderland where he'd have been given a full season to prove his worth, I think he'd still be in the Premier League now. I seem to remember he got about six games with you before Redknapp dropped him (Ed: It was only two games!).

If you look at his goals per games for Burnley last season, he actually had a better ratio than Doyle at Wolves who everyone was raving about, and Wolves were a far better side than Burnley.

What are the main strengths of your team?

Erm…? Not sure at the moment. We used to be very strong at Deepdale but we're just crap home and away now it seems. We're not tight at the back (snigger) nor do we have a goalscorer that will strike fear into every opposition fans heart.

We're just average all over the team at the moment basically, although if I was to pinpoint one strength it would be the midfield duo of Paul Coutts and Matt James.

What are the biggest weaknesses of your team?

We can't score and we let more in than Paris Hilton.

Predict the result of the game. Will Nugent come back to haunt you?

I honestly have no idea. I wouldn't be surprised if either side walked away with a 3-0 win at this moment in time. If Nugent plays well you'll probably win, if he doesn't then we might win.