awarded the club's most improved player this season. However, in the 2004–05 season, Mears suffered a stress fracture in the pre-season training, which put him out of the game for ten months. Despite his long-term injury, he was offered and signed a further three-year contract in March 2005, saying "I was out for 10 months so you worry about what is going to happen to you. You need to be in the team but Preston have been very good to me and I can't speak more highly of the manager. Last season to get the stress fracture was very hard but that's all behind me now and I'm looking forward to a fresh start with a three-year deal." Mears made his return from the first team on 16 April 2005, coming on as late a substitute, in a 3–0 win over Cardiff City and went on to make five appearances in the 2004–05 season. After suffering from injury at the start of the 2005–06 season, Mears managed to regain his first team place since returning from the first team and then scored his first goal of the season on 18 October 2005, in a 2–2 draw against Cardiff City. His second goal then came on 11 February 2006, in a 5–1 win over Luton Town. He made 39 league and cup appearances in the 2005–06 season as Preston reached the Championship play-offs semi-final. During that season, instead of having his surname Mears on the back of his shirt, he had his nickname "Tye", a rare occurrence in English football. In July 2006, after rejecting two bids from Charlton Athletic, Preston accepted an offer for Mears from West Ham United. West Ham United Mears signed for West Ham for an initial £1 million in July 2006, rising to £1.9 million depending on appearances and possible future international recognition with England. Mears made his West Ham United debut on 19 August 2006, in a 3–1 win over Charlton Athletic, in the opening game of the season and then a month later, he played his first European match on 14 September 2006, playing the whole game, in a 1–0 loss against Palermo. However, he was only to make six league and cup appearances for West Ham as he struggled to break into the first team. He memorably produced an athletic overhead clearance on the line, after Stiliyan Petrov lobbed West Ham keeper Roy