Preston Grasshoppers are delighted to announce the appointment of Josh Longson as Captain for the 2025-26 season. Josh has been an integral player for Preston over the past three seasons and we are delighted that he has accepted the role. On accepting the Captaincy, Josh said, “after leading two of our pre-season games, it’s a real honour to be named captain for the season. It’s a privilege to lead a group of players I respect on the pitch — and more importantly, enjoy spending time with every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. My aim is to keep developing in the role and lead us to success, starting with a strong performance this weekend.

Pre-season has been a huge step forward for us. I know it sounds cliché, but the difference between where we were in June and where we are now is massive. What’s most encouraging is that this growth hasn’t just come from the 1st XV — we’ve seen improvement across the squad, thanks to consistently high numbers at training and everyone buying in. The effort has been outstanding from the whole group, whether we’re grafting through one of Karl’s fitness blocks or fine-tuning our skills in a handling drill. Credit also must go to the coaches, who’ve kept layering in new elements to sharpen our game. The attention to detail and structure they’ve brought in is already showing results.

Coming off the back of another strong win against Macclesfield, we head into the Billingham game in a good place. They’re always a tough side — physical, relentless, and like us in the way they’ll fight for the full 80 minutes. But we go in with confidence. If we stick to the script and stay accurate in what we do, we can get the result. After last season’s battle with relegation, we owe it to ourselves and to the fans to give them more to cheer about this year. Predicting a final league position is always tough, but what I do know is that with the quality we’ve added to the squad, and the talent we already had, we’ll be winning a lot more than we’re losing.

We were so close in so many games last year, and the margins were fine. I truly believe we’re now in a place to turn those narrow losses into wins — because of the mindset, the confidence, and the clarity we’re playing with.”

Josh will be supported in his role by two Vice Captains: Rory Brand, and Scott Richardson. Both bring a wealth of leadership experience to their roles, with Scott having Captained the side for the previous two seasons.