The PNE boss celebrates a year in charge at Deepdale today and thinks the club are in a much stronger position than he found them.

Irvine believes getting to the top flight is a realistic target if a steady approach is adopted, and a degree of patience is needed because of the club's financial position.

He has no regrets about taking the decision 12 months ago to quit a secure job as No.2 to David Moyes at Everton and swap it for the fast lane of management.

At times it's been tough for the 50-year-old, with North End only securing Championship safety in the final couple of weeks of last season.

And after a strong start to the current campaign, it needed Sunday's 3-1 win at arch-rivals Blackpool to put a smile back on fans' faces following a run of just two victories in 10 games.

Irvine told the Lancashire Evening Post: "The year has gone quickly, very quickly – it's hard to believe I've been here that long.

"I've enjoyed it and I'm delighted I made the decision to come . . . I've no regrets at all.

"At Everton I was happy and had a safe job, it was without question a gamble to leave, and some people thought of it as a foolish decision.

"But I still think it was the right one, and it was important I chose the right club to become a manager at – that was something David Moyes helped me with.

"It was an honour to be given the chance to manage Preston North End and I'm looking forward to making more progress here.

"I think I have moved the club forward, but it's for other people to judge that.

"We're in a better shape than we were last year, we're making good progress, and we need to make more to get to where people want us to be.

"No one wants to do that more than I do – I'm desperate to bring success to the club.

"It's been a decent year, although things were really tough at the start and we were in trouble when I came in.

"We were still in trouble some weeks into the job, but since the turn of the year, things have gone pretty well.

"I can't do things overnight, we simply don't have the resources.

"So it's not been a case of making wholesale changes.

"We have to do things carefully and within our means.

"There is no point the club going out and doing things which they can't do financially.

"Things have to be done within the budget, and one of the reasons I took the Preston job was that I knew it was well run – a club which wasn't likely to go under.

"That's because of very careful management by the chairman and the board.

"I know I couldn't come in and demand piles and piles of money, we have to change things round gradually."

Irvine felt he began to stamp his mark on the club in the first
couple of months of this year after a shaky start.

And undoubtedly the January transfer window helped, with the arrivals of Richard Chaplow and Chris Brown.

Said Irvine: "There's no particular one match which showed me we had started to turn the corner, it was more a case of a few of them.

"Beating West Bromwich Albion and Stoke at home, both of whom went on to be promoted, was a major boost.

"They were games people expected us to lose, but we showed our quality against very strong opposition.

"There was the win at Charlton too. Then a game which I'll always remember is the 2-2 draw at Plymouth which made us safe.

"The sheer exhaustion I felt on the journey home from Plymouth was incredible, the players and staff felt that way too.

"We wanted to celebrate the fact we were definitely staying up, but everyone on the coach was drained, there was nothing left.

"Moving on to this season, the victory at Blackpool on Sunday was of course a massive one. I'm delighted we won that one.

"It was a massive one for the fans – we all knew how important it was for them.

"Just after I'd taken over we lost to Blackpool, then we drew later in the season, so it was nice to finally beat them.

"I'm hoping results against them don't go in that same sequence, it would be nice to get another win when they come here."

Meanwhile, North End Reserves beat Bury 4-1 on penalties following a goalless draw to reach the third round of the LFA Canterbury Cup.