PNE's number four has taken the armband for the 2024/25 season

Ben Whiteman is glad to see the back of pre-season and have the real thing on the horizon. He will be wearing the armband in 2024/25, with a Friday night showdown against his old club Sheffield United to kick things off. The Lilywhites head into the season on the back of three mid-table finishes under manager Ryan Lowe. Now, the challenge is clear. Whiteman has certainly embraced the responsibility of being skipper, and is as determined as anyone to push higher.

“I think that has been the focus for Preston in the Championship, hasn’t it?” Whiteman told the Lancashire Post. “We have been so close and you can understand why there is some frustration. It is not for the lack of trying, but when we get to the business end of the season I think we need to stamp our authority down a bit more - to try and get into those play-off places.

“The way we’ve ended, the past two seasons, me and Peter (Ridsdale), and the management staff, have spoken about how we can help and find solutions for that. I think we get to a certain point and the season sort of fizzles itself out, which then brings the barrage of the summer. We need to find a way, as a group, of staying in that form until the last four or five games.”

The number four prides himself on professionalism and has seamlessly taken to the off-field duties of being captain. Whiteman has been one before and, as an ambitious individual, wants to ensure PNE give themselves the best chance of improving and succeeding. Clear communication across all departments has been a positive for him so far.

“I think that’s it,” said Whiteman. “It’s being open and honest about where we are as a football club and what the expectations are. We have not finished well at all in the past two seasons, if we are being honest with ourselves. We’ve given ourselves a great chance throughout the season, then it hasn’t been good enough. You can understand the frustration from the supporters as well, so it’s about meetings and how we can sort of rectify that. The most important people at the football club are the fans and we need to make sure we send them home happy.”

The number four raises the frustration himself - it was sky high across a couple of spells last season. Post-September, North End went on a dismal run of form and they then won one of their last eight games - failing to score in seven of those. But, it’s a new campaign and Whiteman knows the role the Deepdale faithful can play on Friday night.

“Yeah, massively,” said Whiteman. “That is what, as a player, you notice. If we can get Deepdale rocking, it definitely makes a massive difference to performances. We want everyone at the football club to be together. We are all one of yous and we want to make sure we use every fan as well, so hopefully we can sell it out on Friday night and give them something to cheer about. The first month, we’ve got two sides who dropped out of the Premier League last season. It’s a tough start but one where we’ve got to impose our game and not worry about anything else.”

North End’s number four has a sharp football brain and takes a great interest in the tactical side of the sport. Detail matters to Whiteman, who believes there is a big onus on Preston to be better when the going gets tough in matches. Competition is strong in PNE’s midfield this year, and the manager looks set to use a couple of different systems - having experimented with a three and a box over pre-season. Flexibility as a team, in the eyes of Whiteman, is essential.

“If you look at the start of last season, we obviously had the box midfield and it really worked,” he said. “We picked up some fantastic results in that. I think we’ve got to be more adaptable this season - we have spoken about that as a group, in terms of what we can do on and off the ball, to make things tougher for teams. And, obviously it is implementing our own stamp on the game.

“Hopefully we can do that and the fans can see that as well. (Stefan Thordarson) is a massive presence and he is an international footballer as well, so he’s got that experience of playing in big games. We are all learning off that. Sam (Greenwood) has come in and been a bright spark - a great little technical player. If we can get him on the ball, I’m sure he’ll do some damage.”