Michael's plan for 'Appy' hour in Preston

The Hawthorns first-team coach returns to North End looking to ensure a miserable day for the club he helped inspire back to the Championship.

But Appleton can expect a rough ride if the Baggies are beaten – thanks to customers at the pub he part-owns just five miles from Deepdale.

The former midfielder lives in the heart of Lilywhites country, with Preston-born wife Francesca and their two children. The couple invested earlier this year in the Sitting Goose in nearby Lower Bartle, a regular watering hole for fans of North End.

He said: "I run the pub with my wife and my brother-in-law, Ryan Cookson. He is a live-in landlord. I go in for a meal, a drink and chat away to the customers, then it's my job to make sure it gets in the papers!

"I have more of a PR role and I pop in a couple of times a week, but generally I take a back seat.

"Most of the regulars are North End fans. There are one or two Blackpool supporters, but generally it's all North End.

"They are already giving me a bit of stick and I am expecting more if we don't win on Saturday."

The 33-year-old is keen to add to his Deepdale scrapbook on Saturday by helping Albion bounce back from their successive Championship defeats by Crystal Palace and Barnsley.

But Appleton already has a wealth of fond memories from his adopted home-town club, who he helped to win the Second Division title during four years and 145 appearances.

He said: "We had a very good squad at the time I was there with a lot of big characters. We didn't just do well on the pitch, we were very close socially.

"We often went out together away from the club and because of that there was a really good spirit in the team.

"Most of the time I was there, if we weren't winning a league we were getting to the play-offs and we won promotion to the Championship.

"There were people like myself, Jon Macken, Colin Murdoch, Sean Gregan, who went on to move to West Brom, and Graham Alexander, who is playing in the Premier League for Burnley.

"I am still in close touch with another team-mate, Paul McKenna, but he has left Preston now for Nottingham Forest and he was one of the last from my time.

"The only player there now who was there when I was is Andy Lonergan, who I still see when he comes to the pub. They've got to be seen as serious contenders for the play-offs at least.

"They have been there every year for a while now except for one, when Alan Irvine first went there and did a very good job to get them out of trouble. They know what this league is all about, have done well in it before and have made a good start again, so you have to see them as a threat."

Since leaving North End in 2001, Appleton has become part of the furniture at the Hawthorns.

Having been forced into early retirement by chronic knee problems, he cut his backroom teeth with the Baggies academy and is now getting his first glimpse behind the scenes of the senior set-up.

The long-serving coach reckons he is settling in well, despite starting this season as the outsider in an established former MK Dons management team of Roberto Di Matteo, Eddie Newton and Ade Mafe.

Appleton said: "When they first came here they were a three and the first couple of months were a little bit difficult, because I had been at the club for almost nine years.

"What I didn't want to do was be like a bull in a china shop by forcing my way into the group. I told them 'I know the club and a lot of players and, if you have any questions, come and ask.'

"Doing it that way has made it easier for us all to settle down. When I stopped playing five or six years ago I knew pretty early that I wanted to coach, so I made sure that I got all of my badges.

"I started at the bottom, but my ambition from day one was always to work with senior players and hopefully one day be a manager.

"I am working my way up, but I think working with senior players is where I am strongest and it's where I hope to stay.

"You have to be a bit more streetwise, a bit more clever with the first-team lads and working with the youth team is a bit different.

"They have a few different problems but you get a real honesty from youth team players, because they are all kids trying to impress and they will give you everything in every training session.

"First-team players are different, because they know they are professionals and are already important to the club, so with them it is all about psychology and making sure they are properly prepared for the games."