a newcomer to the team, and the local supporters knew from his wartime appearances that Finney was an outstanding prospect. It was not until he played league football that his genius as a player was fully recognised. Finney went on to play for Preston in fourteen English league seasons from 1946–47 to 1959–60, including twelve in the First Division. He played in the Second Division for two seasons after Preston were relegated at the end of the 1948–49 season. In the Second Division, Preston finished sixth in 1949–50 and then won the division championship in 1950–51. The club was thereby promoted back to the First Division where they remained for ten years until the end of the 1960–61 season, the one following Finney's retirement. Preston's best league position during Finney's career was second in both the 1952–53 and 1957–58 seasons. Second income Post-war demand for plumbers ensured that Finney had a second income to supplement the £14 he received as a footballer. He became known as "The Preston Plumber" and ran his own successful plumbing business from the 1940s until the 1990s. Palermo approach Along with Stanley Matthews, Finney was English football's most famous player in the decade after the war. In 1952, Preston's chairman Nat Buck rejected an offer for Finney worth £10,000 over two years from Italian club Palermo, and Finney remained a one-club player. 1950s In the 1952–53 season, Preston were runners-up to Arsenal in the First Division. Preston won their last three games and this run took them two points clear of Arsenal at the top of the league table, but Arsenal still had a game in hand. This match, at home to Burnley, was the Championship decider and was played on the night before the 1953 FA Cup Final. Arsenal had to win to equal Preston's points total and overtake them on goal average. They won 3–2 and claimed the title by the margin of 0.099 of a goal. It was the closest that Finney came to a major title in his career. He played for Preston in the 1954 FA Cup Final against West Bromwich Albion, his only cup final appearance. Preston lost 3–2 and Finney revealed in his autobiography that he was not fully match fit and "did not give his best performance". Finney formed an attacking partnership with Tommy Thompson in the 1950s. In the 1956–57 season they scored a combined total