12 months at Preston North End - Reflecting on a year of Ryan Lowe at Deepdale

Lowe was one that PNE had their eye on should they make a change at the top and after sacking Frankie McAvoy a day earlier, they moved to bring in the then Plymouth Argyle boss.

During his time at Argyle, Lowe saw them out of League Two and into a play-off place in League One across two-and-a-half seasons.

His possession based style and approach to the media quickly helped him win over the fans, injecting enthusiasm into the supporters that had long since been absent.

But how has the North End boss done so far?

Ryan Lowe’s time at PNE has been an interesting watch. He started out almost perfectly, he lifted the club when it was at a pretty low point. The apathy around PR1 was only growing and more and more supporters just were not bothered with the outcome of games anymore.

In stepped the scouser and he worked his charm on the supporters who had otherwise found better things to do with their Saturdays.

He was limited at first by a squad he inherited. He had a clear style and system that he wanted to play, a welcome approach as a clear philosophy and plan was needed.

Lowe got North End into the conversation for the play-offs on one or two occasions but in reality that was probably the best he could do with a squad of players that were not suited to his 3-5-2, with some underperforming anyway and looking likely to leave.

A 1-0 win at Deepdale over local rivals Blackpool is still his best result in the job, coming in April this year, although he did also suffer a heavy 4-1 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers to tarnish his record before the end of last season.

Some players, of course, did leave in the summer and so too came a season card campaign championed by the manager. He quickly made some moves in the transfer market and continued to fan the flames when it came to getting behind the team and the club.

A memorable trip for fans and players alike was shared in Spain for North End’s summer training camp in Campoamor as the bond grew between the 44-year-old and the Lilywhites’ faithful.

He caused himself a bit of a problem in the summer as he publicly stated he wanted two more players in to strengthen his squad, something which did not happen and the PNE hierarchy have made it clear that he knew what he had to spend, and how much of it he had spent at the time. It left supporters disillusioned with the backing of their boss, the main reoccurring issue of his tenure.

Regardless, there were some astute acquisitions in his summer business, such as Robbie Brady who had previously struggled with injury but as been one of the standouts so far, and North End started this season well.

They hit the headlines as they kept seven clean sheets in a row to start the season but also had just four goals to their name after 12 league games.

The draws turned more readily into wins however and PNE found their rhythm, reaching their peak after three games in six days saw them into the play-offs at the start of November.

With Championship football stopped one game later for the World Cup, we are yet to see where Lowe’s first full season in charge goes but he has certainly made an impact so far.

He’s an ambitious boss that talks of the Premier League and that is his aim. It is still entirely possible he reaches that aim this season with PNE but even if not, the early showings under the former striker have been good.