'Partly my fault' - Ex-Fulham and Ipswich Town man's confession on poor Preston North End spell

Former Preston North End winger Ben Pringle admits his disappointing spell at Deepdale was ‘partly’ his fault.

The Lilywhites signed Pringle in the summer of 2016, for an undisclosed fee from Fulham. He put pen-to-paper on a three year deal at Preston, but made just 10 appearances in that time. Pringle was loaned out to Oldham, Grimsby and Tranmere before leaving upon the expiry of his deal.

Pringle - 27 at the time - was a familiar face to the PNE faithful given his stand out performance against them, for Rotherham United, during the 2013/14 play-offs in League One. However, after leaving the Millers he never really hit the same heights.

The left-footer went on to play for Gillingham, Morecambe and Altrincham, before heading over to Dubai to play for Fleetwood United - a sister club of Fleetwood Town. Pringle is loving his time out there, having not enjoyed his football for a while.

"I just had to get out of England, to be honest,” Pringle told BBC Lancashire. “The football world is a small bubble and I just kind of got sick of it. I needed to try something new and see what else was out there. I didn't really like football towards the end of my career, but since I've come here it's like I've started again. I just love going out, playing and training - obviously it helps doing it in the sunshine, so all good.”

He added: “There were a couple of things, at Fulham we had four managers in five months - which wasn't great, especially as I'd just moved. Preston, I’d say partly was my fault. To stay at Preston for three years and play only 10 games was probably the start of it all, to be honest.

“But, there were things I could've done which would've helped my situation. My attitude back then wasn't the best, so it was probably a bit of both. But, I'd say that was certainly the start of the time when I just fell out of love with the game.”

Pringle spent just one year at Craven Cottage, before Simon Grayson swooped in for him. At the time, it was a move that excited the midfielder.

"Yeah, 100 per cent, that's what I was thinking," said Pringle. "I remember we signed Aiden McGeady and I thought: 'Yeah, this could be the end of me Preston'. But yeah, there were a number of things that went on there - partly of which was my fault and other factors. From then, football kind of evolved.

“I was at Rotherham, always 4-4-2 and crossing the ball in from absolutely anywhere on the left. That kind of period, 2016/2017, it changed. People wanted pacey, direct wingers who could go past defenders and that wasn't my game at all. Maybe that was another reason why it didn't happen at other teams.”