'Let's see' - Ryan Lowe's next steps at Preston North End assessed by Peter Ridsdale

Preston North End director Peter Ridsdale was left puzzled by the Lilywhites’ season - but backs the team to improve under Ryan Lowe in 2024/25.

Since being appointed in December 2021, manager Lowe had guided North End to 13th, 12th and 10th placed finishes in the Championship. The upcoming campaign will be his third full season in charge at Deepdale.

Pressure has piled on Lowe a couple of times during his PNE reign, but he came through both spells and is now tasked with pushing Preston on from being mid-table. Ridsdale was confused by the inconsistency of the 2023/24 season and says it’s on the Preston boss to eradicate those poor runs of form.

"He's a football manager and their average life span is relatively short," said Ridsdale. "I think football manager's life spans at Deepdale are longer than most and ultimately, you are judged on results. Our wage bill - I've always quoted 19th - was actually 22nd last year and we finished 10th. Now, that in itself is testament to everyone at the football club. Then, fans say we have no ambition - finishing mid table - which is just nonsense. Of course we have got ambition, but to some extent you then look who you're playing against and who's above you in the league.

“The three teams who came down last season had wage bills around the £100m mark and we are £16m - it's a challenge and yet we beat Leeds, Ipswich, Coventry twice, drew with Southampton and at Norwich. It was the teams at the bottom we were not performing against. QPR beat us twice - that's not being disrespectful to them but they had a struggling season. Sheffield Wednesday beat us at home. I think, the thing for me going back to the manager and his tenure, if you look at last year the thing I can't quite get my head around is that we had four spells in the season, with the same manager, staff and broadly the same squad.

“The first eight games we got 20 points. The next 15 games we got 12 points, which is relegation territory. The next 18 games we got 31 points, which is top three territory. And then the last five games we got no points, when the season before we got one point in the last five games. So, when you look at it, of our 63 points we got 51 points out of 26 games. So, then you have to say to yourself 'Why?'. For all the supporters who jump up and down and say 'Change manager' - there are a number of factors.

“Just put Ryan to one side, even if you didn't have a manager then who do you go and hire? You then say ‘What is the cost of a change? And then you say ‘If those players had two spells last year which would've put us in the top two or three of the division, isn't it something else that's missing?’ And do you really want to spend all that money on changing, to have a new situation where your manager suddenly doesn't want all of your players anyway and wants his own players, which puts you back three years?

“What we've said to all of us, from me down, is look at what we did well during those two spells when we were performing and look at what we didn't do well in the two spells when we were totally underperforming. If we can do better in the two spells when we underperformed, then changing doesn't actually do anything other than put you backwards. We have to do better with what we've got. Ryan thinks he can and we think he can, so Ryan has got the job of proving he can. And, let's see what happens."

Ridsdale referenced the ‘relegation’ run of form North End went on last season, which saw PNE win three out of 15 games. Lowe’s job looked at serious risk during that spell but Preston ended up releasing a statement of support, on December 23. Preston’s director admits it was a testing period, in which plenty of discussions took place.

"I don't make all the calls, it is owned by the Hemmings family of course," said Ridsdale. "All I do is tell them my views on any subject are on any day of the week. After we were beaten by Swansea away around Christmas, we met the players the following day and told them we were going to back the manager. We made a statement, which is probably unusual to do. Then we played Leeds on Boxing Day and beat them, which was the start of the 18 games we got 31 points from. The disappointing thing was the last five games. After we got beat by Norwich - I thought we played well that day - we didn't get any points which was very disappointing.

“So, does it challenge you? Of course it does. Because you've got supporters sending you text messages and shouting down the phone, on a regular basis, saying 'You don't know what you're doing' and 'Change the manager'. What you have to do is cut the noise out and say 'What is the right thing for the football club at any moment in time?' and 'What decisions do you think will give us a better chance of being where we want to be?' - which is play-offs, as a minimum. We all discussed it, on a regular basis, and decided that he best way was to back the management team we had and try give them the tools to do the job they are paid to do. Until the last five games, that appeared to be working."