Former Preston North End winger Chris Humphrey keen on a return to management

Humphrey, 32, managed Scottish side Gretna 2008 in the Lowland League for seven months last season.

Being sacked in November has not curbed his enthusiasm for being a manager or coach and he hopes an opportunity might arise more locally in the season ahead.

He still lives in Preston, having settled his family in the area during his time playing for North End.

After leaving Gretna, Humphrey continued his links with Scottish football by playing for Kelty Hearts, a team managed by former Scotland international Barry Ferguson.

Humphrey told the Lancashire Post: “I really enjoyed my time at Gretna.

“I went back to playing after that for Kelty Hearts but I’d like to get back into coaching and management in non-league.

“I’m not one of those people who think just because I have played at a decent level, I can work as a manager straight away at a higher level.

"I want to give it my all, learn about management, work hard and see where that gets me.

“In the end things didn’t work out the way I wanted to at Gretna but I’m so glad that I experienced it.

“I tried to run things there like a professional dressing room and the lads loved it.

“What I enjoyed was learning about the players’ personalities, what made them tick, what they responded to.

“The training sessions were superb, they worked so hard.

“We brought in little extras like the ice baths and recovery methods.

“With the lads being semi-pro and having worked during the day, I was conscious of what their reaction might be to the training we did. But they all bought into what I asked.

“In the end I didn’t get the results and football is a results business. There were too many defeats and I had to accept that.”

Humphrey spent three-and-a-half years with PNE after signing from Motherwell on a Bosman in July 2013.

He played for Hibernian and Bury after leaving Deepdale but a stress fracture to his shin forced him to retire from the full-time game.

Until lockdown he was studying for his B licence with some of the PNE players on a PFA-run course.

Humphrey said: "I was part-way through the B licence and I'll get going again with that when football starts.

"I was doing it at North End, there were six or seven of the Preston lads on the course."