EXCLUSIVE Ben Whiteman Preston North End column: Doing my homework by watching TV

As a player, I regard watching clips of the games as a big part of my job, looking at what I’ve done, learning from them and trying to improve.

It’s something I frequently do with the gaffer at the training ground, sit down with him and run through the previous game.

We will watch parts of the game, talk things through and see how well something worked or how I might have done something better.

Whether it is criticism or praise, I’m happy to watch the footage and learn.

I do sometimes take my work home with me, which can drive my missus mad.

What I tend to do is watch my stuff and then let her watch what she wants, it’s a fair compromise!

I watch a lot of football at home because at the moment there is not much else to do.

There seems to be a Premier League game on every night, while there are the EFL games too.

It’s good to watch them for entertainment and to try and learn about other teams and players.

Having started my career at Manchester United and supported them, one game I did particularly enjoy watching last weekend was their 2-0 win over City.

What a magnificent result that was, I went through quite a lot of emotion watching that it must be said.

It’s been a couple of months since I signed for Preston and the experience has been a good one.

I was one of a number of new lads to come in during the January window and the welcome I got from the boys already here was brilliant.

From my time at Sheffield United, I knew Ched Evans who arrived here around the same time as myself.

Results-wise, we could have done better than we have and the aim will be to pick up a lot more points as the season goes on.

This was a big move for me but one I felt very comfortable making. The manager was a big part of it for me, a major reason why I signed.

When I talked to him about coming to Preston, his knowledge of the game came across really well, he was very detailed about what he wanted to do and what could be achieved.

I go back to being a massive watcher of football and the manager is the same.

He likes us to be prepared as much as possible for the games and that can involve clips of the other team or something we have done well in a previous game.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks at Doncaster Rovers, the club I left to join Preston.

The manager Darren Moore left to take charge at Sheffield Wednesday.

It was an opportunity for Darren to manage in the Championship but he’s got a big job to do at Wednesday trying to keep them in the division and away from relegation danger.

Doncaster have put Andy Butler in charge until the end of the season, a great guy who I have so much respect for.

I played with him as Doncaster and he did some great work with the Belles.

He started off with two wins before Doncaster lost the other night, Obviously I’ll be keeping a close eye on how they do.