Until joining Stoke, Fuller had rather unsuccessful spells with Portsmouth and Southampton before moving away from the south coast on transfer deadline day in August 2006. After his £1m move away from Deepdale, the Jamaican international only managed to score one goal whilst at Fratton Park, in a total of 37 appearances. Shortly after Harry Redknapp left Pompey to join bitter rivals Southampton, Fuller followed him after a nominal fee was agreed between the two clubs where his strike rate was a bit more like the Ricardo Fuller of old, managing to score 9 goals in 31 appearances. This goal scoring prowess attracted the attention of then Ipswich boss, Joe Royle. In only a short period of time, Fuller managed to make a long lasting impression whilst on loan at Portman Road scoring 2 goals in 3 appearances. This strike rate caught the eye of Tony Pullis who saw Fuller's pace and goal scoring threat as a must have and brought him to the Britannia. It is with Stoke where he has found his real goal scoring touch again. With 11 goals so far this season, it make him the clubs leading goal scorer, partnering another Preston old boy, Richard Cresswell.
Cressy, has been reunited with Ricardo Fuller to form one of the most deadly strike duos in the Championship this season. Between them they have netted 19 goals thus far as Stoke currently find
themselves in fourth position and challenging for a playoff position, that they missed out on last season. Cresswell left Deepdale in August 2005 for a fee of £1.15m to Leeds United, who hijacked his proposed move to Sheffield United. It was been said that as soon as Cresswell was aware of Kevin Blackwell and Leeds' interest he cut short his meeting with Neil Warnock and made his way across to the other side of Yorkshire. He agreed terms with the Elland Road side and teamed up with, his former Preston colleagues, Sean Gregan, David Healy and Eddie Lewis instead. With Cresswell being a lifelong Leeds United fan, it was all too good to be true for him to secure his dream move. Unfortunately this turned out to be the case, as the Yorkshire man's first season at Elland Road was plighted with injury and his appearances were cut down to 21 games but still managed to score 7 goals, giving him a strike rate of 1 in 3. His second season at Leeds wasn't any better and was also affected by an ongoing knew problem. Cresswell was deemed crucial to Leeds survival hopes and made his return from injury against Crystal Palace in February 2007. However after just 4 goals in 18 appearances, Leeds United were relegated to League 1, English footballs third tier. The only time Leeds United have ever been in such a position.
A Player of proven championship quality was the subject of much speculation as he was linked with not only Leeds' local rivals, Hull City, but also a return to Deepdale. Neither of which happened and instead Cresswell found himself in a team challenging for promotion as Tony Pullis secured his services for an undisclosed fee. Cresswell has made 27 appearances in all competitions this season, finding the net 8 times.
Another former Preston player currently playing at the Britannia is left winger and former Manchester United trainee, Danny Pugh. Pugh became Paul Simpsons first signing as PNE boss and became an instant hit with the fans due to his hard work and clever wing play. Pugh managed to get on the score sheet 4 times as he ran up over 40 appearances for the lilywhites and was a key member of Paul Simpson's promotion challenging squad. However, at the start of his second season with Preston, Pugh found himself out of the team as Paul Simpson looked to change things around in a bid to rediscover the teams winning ways of 2006, which saw them go top of the league. This left Danny frustrated who then joined Stoke initially on loan midway through November 2007. Danny has now made his move permanent in a £500,000 deal and has become an important player of Tony Pullis' side. Pullis has publically stated how pleased he was to sign a player of Danny's quality, he was quoted to have said he was "Delighted" to have made the deal a permanent one.
Stoke visit Deepdale on 16 February and as ever I would expect a mixed reaction from the Deepdale faithful when these former Lilywhites return, which will be, for Danny the first time since his move.