Preston boss Simon Grayson takes on his former club Leeds United on Monday.
Preston North End boss Simon Grayson has told BBC Radio Lancashire that he still wants to beat Leeds United on Boxing Day despite his love for the club.
North End host Leeds at Deepdale on Monday afternoon with both side in great form, as Preston have lost just two of the last 15 Championship games, whilst Leeds have won seven of their last nine league outings.
Preston manager Simon Grayson celebrates
Preston lie six points behind fifth-placed Leeds, and will be hoping to close the gap by beating Garry Monk’s men in a game which sees a number of North End figures facing their former club.
Defender Paul Huntington and striker Jermaine Beckford both turned out for Leeds in their League One days, whilst manager Simon Grayson has numerous ties to the club.
Grayson was born in Ripon, just over 35 miles north of Leeds, and not only grew up supporting the club, but also started his career as a youth team player at Elland Road.
Simon Grayson during his time as Leeds manager
Grayson returned to manage Leeds in 2008, guiding them to League One promotion in 2010, but was harshly sacked in February 2012 despite winning almost 50% of his games in charge of the club.
Now, Grayson takes on Leeds again, and has told BBC Radio Lancashire that he wants to beat his boyhood club to aid Preston’s play-off push, and would be ‘absolutely gutted’ if Leeds picked up a win that helped them pip North End to a top six place.
Grayson added that Leeds are a great club with incredible support, before commenting on controversial owner Massimo Cellino, suggesting he’s done the right thing in letting manager Monk get on with the job after years of managerial instability at Elland Road.
“Everybody knows my affection with that football club, but come Boxing Day, I want to beat anybody,” said Grayson. “If it proves at the end of the season that they’ve nicked a play-off spot from us, then I’ll be absolutely gutted.”
“It’s a great football club with fanatical support, and there was probably a time in the early part of the season that Garry was maybe looking over his shoulder at the previous history of the owner. He seems to have stayed out of it a little bit and let Garry get on with it, who has done a great job at Swansea previously, and they’re bearing the fruition of it. They’ll be pleased with how they’re progressing, but I’m sure they’ll be aware of our run that we’ve been on recently,” he added.
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