Jon Macken left Preston North End almost 20 years ago now, but he remains a popular figure at Deepdale after his goalscoring exploits.
Macken joined PNE way back in 1997, leaving Manchester United in a deal worth around £250,000.
The striker smashed 63 league goals in 189 games for North End, proving to be a reliable goalscorer.
His most memorable strike was a goal from around the halfway line against Manchester City – the club who ended up prising him away from Deepdale.
PNE made a huge profit on Macken, turning £250,000 into £5million when they sold Macken in 2002.
On a personal note, this was the first sale PNE made that I can remember actually making me somewhat sad!
Macken failed to really replicate his North End success anywhere else, and has now talked about his career.
Speaking to Undr the Cosh, Macken has admitted that he had an offer to join Blackpool during his time at Derby County.
Macken chose to join Barnsley on loan instead, suggesting that the move to Blackpool wasn’t for him – because of his PNE ties.
Macken didn’t want to ruin his relationship with PNE fans by signing for Blackpool, even if he now wonders whether Simon Grayson would have taken him on to other clubs had he joined.
“I’d actually got offered to go to Blackpool as well, with Simon Grayson at the time,” said Macken. “But obviously with the Preston connection I just thought ‘hmm no, I’d rather keep that as it is’. Once again, you look back and think ‘maybe if I’d have done well there, he might have took you somewhere else’, because he went onto different clubs, Simon. But it just wasn’t for me at the time,” he added.