In what was Mike Marsh's second and final game in charge of PNE, the Lilywhites succumbed to a 3-0 defeat to Swansea City. Matt Grimes scored a penalty five minutes from half-time, and then substitutes Azeem Abdulai and Zan Vipotnik inflicted further damage. Marsh didn't conduct a post-match press conference, and his department was shortly announced, with Heckingbottom named manager just a few days later.
Heckingbottom's first game in charge is in front of a home crowd as North End welcome Luton Town to Deepdale on Saturday. His first away match is against a trip to Harrogate Town in the Carabao Cup, whilst they are also on their travels next weekend when they play Oxford United.
1,487 tickets were allocated to PNE for their trip to the Kassam Stadium and following the news of Heckingbottom, the fixture sold out on Wednesday (August 21). The match will be the first since the shutting of the summer transfer window and it will be interesting to see what the squad looks like.
All 24 teams have now played both home and away, and a talking point among supporters is their level of support. The first home and away fixtures tend to have big crowds, because people have had no competitive club football for a couple of months.
Thanks to figures collated by FanBanter, we can compare the amount of Preston North End supporters that went to Swansea to their Championship rivals. Flick through to see the smallest away followings to the largest.
*No figure for Watford at Millwall was given and there are some estimates.
