Preston North End's last decade started in poor fashion, with the club being relegated to League One in the 2010/11 campaign after an 11-year stay in the second tier.

Things wouldn't get much better for the club for a number of years. The Lilywhites struggled to get out of the third tier and had to undergo major cost-cutting - Phil Brown left and was replaced by the much-maligned Graham Westley, who oversaw a squad overhaul in 2012 - some of the signings being better than others.

It wasn't until Simon Grayson came in in 2013 when the wheels finally started turning again, and two years later PNE were back in the Champiosnhip, where they have remained ever since, first under Grayson and then under the recently departed Alex Neil.

Many good players have passed through Deepdale in the last decade and in some positions it's been hard to narrow them down into a line-up for a team of the decade, and it includes some current North End players as well!

Declan Rudd has been a long-serving stopper for North End, having first joined on loan in 2013 under the Graham Westley regime before returning in 2017 permanently, but there's only one goalkeeper that can be named here.

Preston fans saw his talent from an early age but at the time, the loan signing of Jordan Pickford in 2015 from Sunderland was underwhelming.

North End fans wanted Sam Johnstone back on loan from Manchester United for another season, but he remained at Old Trafford and in came Pickford, who had played against North End in League One the season before for Bradford City.

Pickford's 'season-long' stint at Deepdale was only a four month one because his performances were so good for North End that the Black Cats recalled him to be a part of their senior squad - he equalled a PNE club record by keeping six clean sheets in a row and pulled off some fabulous saves in his time at the club and it definitely set him off on the right path to an England call-up.

North End haven't really been blessed with right-back options this decade - Tom Clarke could have gone here as he shared his time on the pitch between the right side and centre-back, but we've gone with the recently sold Darnell Fisher.

Fisher was Alex Neil's first PNE signing in 2017 and Rotherham fans were very happy to see him leave - most of them didn't rate him one bit - but he proved to be a totally different player for North End.

He could lack some concentration in defence at times but Fisher was always a threat going forward - not scoring much but he was always overlapping down the right to put crosses in.

There was much disappointment when Fisher was sold in January to Middlesbrough with his contract running down and PNE not offering him a new one - his performances over the three-and-a-half years get him into this line-up.

The centre-back spot for North End in the past decade has been filled by some really good players - Bailey Wright just misses out after being a regular for years before departing for Bristol City, and there was also a tough decision to make between two North End stalwarts.

Paul Huntington edges captain fantastic Tom Clarke out simply due to his longevity and the fact he's still doing it in the Championship.

Huntington is a cult hero at Deepdale and has been labelled the 'Cumbrian Cannavaro', and North End's promotion season in 2014-15 saw him score nine times in all competitions as he became a real threat from set pieces.

'Hunts' hasn't always been a regular in the last few years, but what he's done is take opportunities when they've come to him and that's why he's still in the squad this very day at the age of 33 - a real modern-day fan favourite.

Huntington's partner just has to be Ben Davies, who recently secured himself the move of a lifetime to Liverpool - even though he may not ever play a game for them.

Barrow-born Davies came through the PNE academy but spent several seasons on loan in the lower leagues, and in 2017 it looked as though he was going to make a permanent move to Fleetwood for a cut-price fee.

But Alex Neil came in and changed everything - he gave Davies first-team football and he flourished, becoming one of the Championship's top defenders, combining pace, strength and the ability to bring the ball out from the back.

It's no coincidence that results have suffered a lot since Davies departed for Merseyside, and his talents definitely deserve to be in here.

North End had a really talented left-back in the early 2010's when Scott Laird joined from Stevenage under the Westley revolution, and his prolific start for the club from an assist standpoint meant he could have easily been a Championship player.

A horrific leg break though ruined that and in 2015 he departed when North End were promoted  - and PNE ended up upgrading to Greg Cunningham.

North End didn't have to pay a fee for the Ireland international from Bristol City, and he gave three years of solid performances for the club.

His performances did not go unnoticed by others, and in the summer of 2018, Premier League side Cardiff City came in with a £4 million bid for Cunningham and it was reluctantly accepted by North End, giving their number three a shot at top flight football.

It never really worked out for him though and he's now back at Deepdale having returned in January, but at his peak Cunningham was a top second tier left-back.

Realistically, North End haven't been blessed with amazing wingers in the last 10 years - Tom Barkhuizen can be seen as a success having come in on the cheap from Morecambe in early 2017 and immediately became a good Championship player.

But talent-wise one stands out the most and that is Aiden McGeady.

Simon Grayson brought the maverick Irishman on loan to Deepdale from Everton in 2016, giving him a chance to get some minutes under his belt.

McGeady enjoyed being a big fish in a small pond reputation-wise at Deepdale and he dazzled fans with his footwork, trickery and goal contributions.

After scoring eight times for the club, McGeady was named Player of the Year at the end of the season but he would not return - following Grayson to Sunderland in the summer and his relationship with PNE fans soured somewhat just a few months later after he scored against them at Deepdale - running the length of the field to celebrate in-front of the Town End after being booed pre-match.

The middle of the park is somewhere that North End have done very well with in the last 10 years, so it's a shame that a few players have to miss out - those being Alan Browne and Daniel Johnson who remain at Deepdale to this day.

If it was just goal contributions that mattered then Johnson would be on this list - he's been a fantastic £50,000 signing - but Ben Pearson brought something to the midfield that may not be seen again for a while.

It took a little while for the former Man Utd man to settle, but once Simon Grayson gave him a chance in 2016 he never looked back.

An aggressive ball-winner who also liked to dictate the tempo, Pearson was the ideal holding midfielder in the Championship and probably would be playing in the Premier League now if not for his previous disciplinary record.

There was much disappointment when Pearson left for Championship rivals Bournemouth in January - he informed PNE he wouldn't be signing a new deal so they were backed into a corner - but supporters were slightly hoping he'd go to a bigger club.

It doesn't change the fact though that Pearson's all-round game makes him one of the stand-out midfielders in the last 10 years for North End.

Along with Huntington, Gallagher is one of the modern-day PNE icons having spent so much time at the club over the last decade.

His association with North End actually goes back to 2007 when his first loan spell occurred, but he rejoined the club in 2013 from Leicester City on loan for nearly two years before penning a permanent contract in 2015.

Gallagher often played out wide for North End upon his return but he gradually converted into a more central role, and in his later years he's pulled the strings from a deeper position as the legs aren't quite what they used to be.

But for his long-term contributions to the club, his goals, assists, leadership and now being a part of the coaching staff as well as still playing, Gallagher was an easy selection for this.

It wasn't hard to pick the two North End wingers for this, and even though he rarely played in a 4-4-2, Robinson goes in here on the left-hand side.

Robinson didn't set the world alight in his first loan spell at Deepdale but you could tell something was there, and he returned to the club in January 2016 on loan before signing permanently from Aston Villa.

Robinson netted double figures in league goals in two of his three seasons for North End, but it was his final campaign in 2018/19 where he really rose to prominence.

Despite missing four months of the campaign due to a hamstring injury, Robinson scored 12 times in 27 games for North End and he earned himself a Premier League move to Sheffield United for a high seven-figure fee.

The Lilywhites still miss his goal threat to this very day, but he developed into a talented player at Deepdale.

Hugill wasn't everyone's cup of tea at the club, especially in his early days, but there's no denying he not only became a good player by the end of his time at Deepdale, but he also helped the finances out massively.

Hugill represented a cheap punt in 2014 from Port Vale, and after a few loan spells in League Two he made 29 appearances in North End's first season back in the Championship in 2015, but he scored just three times.

He started to put everything together though and in the following campaign he netted 12 times as he became North End's leading man, attracting interest from other clubs in the process.

After another half-season at Deepdale, where he scored eight times in the league, West Ham came in with a 2018 January deadline day bid of £10 million for him - which turned out to be a brilliant bit of business for PNE - although we'll never know if they'd have made the play-offs if he stayed.

It could be said that North End have failed to replace Hugill since he left over three years ago now - what they'd do to have him back...

This line-up would not be complete if Joe Garner wasn't in here.

A huge fan favourite and a North End fan as a kid, Garner arrived in January 2013 under Graham Westley but took a while to get his goalscoring boots on, but when he did he never looked back.

Garner scored 51 times in 89 games between the start of the 2013/14 season and the end of the 2014/15 promotion campaign, winning multiple awards in the process at both North End and from the EFL - and who could forget his iconic goal against Rotherham United in 2014?

Garner never really made the step up into the Championship with PNE - his impacts were limited but no one could begrudge him a move to Rangers in 2016, even if that didn't really work out for him.

We could have gone with the lethal Garner and Jermaine Beckford partnership here, but Beckford's time at North End post-play-off final was quite poor - and what a nightmare peak Garner and Hugill together would give defenders.