Jon Macken was a Preston hero, but he found it a little more difficult to impress when he left North End.
The former Manchester United talent joined Preston back in 1997, with North End paying £250,000 to lure him over to Deepdale.
Macken was a fan favourite with Preston, scoring 63 goals in 189 appearances for the club, including his stunning goal from the halfway line against Manchester City in 2001.
That ultimately resulted in him joining City in 2002, with Kevin Keegan forking out £5million to sign him. That was considered good business by North End after Macken had made it clear he wanted to leave, and it was a huge profit taken in by the club.
Macken didn’t quite enjoy the same success elsewhere. His time with City was ravaged by injuries though he did score a memorable winner to seal a 4-3 comeback win against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup.
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Macken ended up heading to Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Derby County, Barnsley, Walsall, Northwich Victoria, Stockport County and Bamber Bridge, before going into management with Radcliffe Borough.
Now, Macken’s name has been brought up by Simon Jordan, with the ex-Crystal Palace owner naming him as one of the signings he regrets the most.
Jordan noted that Macken was a ‘really good player’, but whilst he was a star with North End, he ‘just didn’t do anything’ with Palace – and he ended up becoming marginalised at Selhurst Park, showing the risk and reward nature of signing players in football.
“It was more that they weren’t performing at a level in keeping of what we would have expected when we signed them,” Jordan said on talkSPORT (7 April, 12.30pm). “I remember signing Jon Macken from Man City. Jon was a really good player but he just didn’t do anything for us.
“So subsequently he became marginalised. And suddenly you’ve got a former Premier League player in a club that has just been relegated on virtually Premier League wages, being surplus to requirements. These are the slings and arrows of football and why it is so challenging,” he added.