Preston North End have never hit the big-time of the Premier League since its inception in the early 1990's, and for all of that decade they failed to even climb into the second tier of English football.

After not playing in what is now known as the Championship since the 1980s, North End secured a promotion back to that level in the year 2000, and for 17 seasons that is where the Lilywhites have plied their trade.

Of course there was the four years between 2011 and 2015 that they spent in League One, but a few of those are ones that North End fans would rather forget - especially when Graham Westley was manager.

There has been some highly successful players to pass through Deepdale in the 21st century, with the likes of Ricardo Fuller, David Nugent, Callum Robinson and Jordan Hugill all scoring lots of goals for PNE and some of them went on to make the club lots of money.

Other signings though were much more forgettable for the club - let's take a look at a few of those ones that PNE fans may not even remember pulled on their colours.

You'll see a few players from North End's four-year stint in League One in this gallery, and the first of them is Harry Bunn.

Bunn was taken on loan from Manchester City in January 2012, whilst PNE were still under the caretaker charge of David Unsworth and Graham Alexander.

The forward made an immediate impact, scoring 40 minutes into his debut against Wycombe Wanderers in a 3-2 win, but he was axed straight away when new boss Graham Westley walked through the door a few days later.

After not featuring in Preston's next few squads, City recalled Bunn due to Westley not using him, but a few years later he went on to forge a decent spell at Huddersfield Town, but is now in non-league at York City.

Rest assured though, there won't be many former PNE players with a 100% scoring record for the club.

You have to cast your mind a bit further back to try and remember this one - Beattie was at West Brom before joining North End back in March 2008 on a loan deal.

He was expected to fire in some goals to help PNE climb to Championship safety, but his debut against Leicester couldn't have gone much worse.

The Scot suffered a double hamstring tear in the first half and ended up missing most of the rest of the season, but managed to get himself fit enough to make a second and final PNE appearance as a substitute once they were safe from the drop.

Trundle was best known for being prolific at Swansea City in the mid 2000's, but his career had dropped off somewhat after leaving Bristol City in 2010, and he ended up playing for Welsh Premier League side Neath in the next two seasons.

At the age of 35 though, Trundle's Football League playing days were surprisingly not over, as Westley took a punt on the striker in the summer of 2012.

Trundle excited fans with a pre-season wonder-strike against non-league Chorley, but a knee injury he suffered just days later kept him out for months.

He made just two competitive appearances for PNE before being released in February 2013 and spent the rest of his career in non-league and the Welsh lower leagues.

It was mentioned earlier that Craig Beattie arrived in March 2008 and immediately damaged his hamstring - well a replacement for him was sought and in came Hungarian striker Priskin from divisional rivals Watford.

Priskin only stayed at Deepdale for a month, but his impact was felt immediately as he struck his one and only goal in a Lancashire derby against Burnley.

That's always a good way to endear yourself to a fanbase, but unfortunately he didn't make much impact aside from that, and he returned to the Hornets following the end of his month up north - supporters didn't take too kindly to his orange boots though as it reminded them of their most hated rivals Blackpool...

Another League One loan deal from 2012, Jervis was brought in by caretaker managers Unsworth and Alexander for a month, and it's fair to say he had a decent impact.

20 years old at the time, Jervis was immediately thrust into the action and scored on his debut away at Rochdale, and added to his tally a few weeks later against Wycombe.

Unlike the aforementioned Bunn, Jervis did make a few more appearances when Westley arrived, but they were only off the bench and he returned to Birmingham at the end of the month.

The first actual Westley signing to make this list, Kane arrived from Chelsea on loan in November 2012, making five appearances for the Lilywhites across League One and the FA Cup.

Westley did bench him for a few games though, which may have made Chelsea's mind up to send him to North End's rivals Blackburn Rovers instead just a few months later, where he spent the rest of the season.

He started 13 Championship games for Rovers and seemed to prove to Westley what he was missing out on - he's forged a decent career for himself as well and is now at Queens Park Rangers.

Westley had taken Aneke on loan at Stevenage when he was manager there and he brought the then-Arsenal man up north in March 2012.

The attacking midfielder made an immediate impact, scoring against Bury on his debut but only started one more game before being dropped by Westley, where he made a further five appearances from the substitutes bench.

Aneke is definitely one of the more forgettable loan signings - he wasn't great but he wasn't bad either and considering he's banging in the goals for Charlton in League One alongside current PNE player Jayden Stockley, his career hasn't turned out too bad.

A lot was expected of Grimshaw when he arrived from Manchester United in 2016 - he was well-regarded in Manchester United's development set-up and had been capped by England under-18's just a few years before.

Grimshaw though failed to live up to the hype, making just five league appearances for North End and he didn't look up to the level required in the Championship - he was released in August 2017 and signed for Motherwell, where he's been ever since.

Looking back on the Grimshaw deal, it's interesting to note that another player from Manchester United arrived at Deepdale that month - Ben Pearson - and the two have had very different career trajectories since...

With North End battling for Championship survival in 2011, Phil Brown turned to Tottenham Hotspur and brought in South African international Bongani Khumalo on loan for the final nine games of the season.

Khumalo showed his international class whilst at the Lilywhites, with the club only losing one of the first five games he played.

His sixth match though proved to be his last - he suffered an injury against Millwall in the first half and had to be taken off - and him being replaced caused North End to completely collapse against the Lions and lose 4-0.

PNE did end up getting relegated to League One not long after, but Khumalo was still a solid player during that time.

As mentioned before, Brown brought Khumalo to Deepdale but also brought in a whole host of other names, including striker Leon Clarke in the January transfer window.

There's not many clubs that Clarke hasn't played for in the EFL, but he arrived at Deepdale in 2011 from QPR on a loan deal and scored just once in six league appearances, struggling as North End were relegated a few months later.

He was part of a poor collection of strikers at the time - neither he, Eddie Johnson or Nathan Ellington could find the back of the net and that contributed to their downfall.

Clarke has gone on to play for a further 11 clubs in 10 years - having most success at Sheffield United where he scored 19 Championship goals in the 2017/18 season.

Williamson was brought in by Alan Irvine on loan in 2009 to try and assist the club's late push for the play offs, and it's fair to say he made an impact in more ways than one.

Whilst he only made five league appearances for North End, he scored in the 6-0 thumping over Cardiff City - a result that helped North End reach the play offs - but he missed both legs against Sheffield United after being sent off against Birmingham City for fighting with Lee Bowyer.

It was a disappointing end to his time at Deepdale - he had ability on the pitch and his creative drive was perhaps what was missing in their play off defeat against the Blades.