Interesting stuff indeed , I read a while back about the Preston North End invincible team of the late 19th century ( the last team to go through a season unbeaten before arsenal did it in 2004 ) they didn’t break payment rules ( or at last they were not caught doing so ) but being run by a board of directors who were rich mill owners ,they basically brought some of the best Scottish players down to Lancashire with promises of jobs for life for players families and themselves when they retired from football. The coalfields and industries associated with them around western Scotland were closing rapidly and it was definitely a huge attraction.
I don't know much about the Preston Invincibles, but that wouldn't surprise me. The ban on professionalism was lifted in 1885 and the maximum wage wasn't introduced until 1900, so clubs would have been free to offer whatever financial inducements they wanted during this period. City, for example, gave striker David Weir the licence of a pub when he signed for us in 1890.
Interesting stuff indeed , I read a while back about the Preston North End invincible team of the late 19th century ( the last team to go through a season unbeaten before arsenal did it in 2004 ) they didn’t break payment rules ( or at last they were not caught doing so ) but being run by a board of directors who were rich mill owners ,they basically brought some of the best Scottish players down to Lancashire with promises of jobs for life for players families and themselves when they retired from football. The coalfields and industries associated with them around western Scotland were closing rapidly and it was definitely a huge attraction.
I don't know much about the Preston Invincibles, but that wouldn't surprise me. The ban on professionalism was lifted in 1885 and the maximum wage wasn't introduced until 1900, so clubs would have been free to offer whatever financial inducements they wanted during this period. City, for example, gave striker David Weir the licence of a pub when he signed for us in 1890.