Is one normal week at Preston North End too much to ask for?

I don’t want things to be boring, I don’t want there to be nothing to play for, I don’t want people to lose interest, but is just one run-of-the-mill week too much to ask?

PNE, admittedly, are in a bit of a strange spot at the moment. Week to week they could either be genuine play-off challengers or they could be out of the running entirely and a bottom half side.

Results and performances like last week certainly point to the latter but they’re currently four points off the play-off places, so come 5:30pm on Saturday they could once again be in the mix.

Throw together a couple of results and North End could quickly find themselves amongst the top six again, where they have been already this season.

The danger they have is those tipped to be in the top six at the start of the season seem to be starting to hit their straps.

West Bromwich Albion have a head coach who is getting a tune out of their star-studded squad and Michael Carrick has hit the ground running at Middlesbrough, so too David Wagner at Norwich.

It means that task of getting into the top six is only getting harder for Preston, with those that ‘should’ be in there, hitting form and showing the qualities you would expect it to take to be amongst the best in the division.

But when your season is over, or very much alive, week to week, it’s an extreme emotional situation and can draw out extreme responses.

There have of course been off-field matters which only amplify dismay or, at times, soothe things slightly. But the effects of the latter are only getting lessened.

North End were embroiled in, what ended up being a police situation at the start of the week and as keen as I am to move on from that mess, it won’t go away.

It is another nail in the coffin to how PNE fans currently see their club. Towards the end of the week, the club’s accounts were released for 2022 and they don’t make for great viewing.

They now spend £177 on wages for every £100 they earn, they made losses of almost £17m across the last year and if not for an ‘investment of affection and love’ – as said by football finance expert Kieran Maguire – who knows where they club would be. And that is something for any potential new owners to think about.

But in the mean time North End travel to Birmingham City this Saturday, strangely enough an away game is a refreshing break, such is their home form, and at times the atmosphere at Deepdale.

Hopefully the Lilywhites can find their mojo in the Midlands to kick the second half of their season into life, play attractive football more regularly, entertain and score goals.

If only it were that simple but still, a little more consistency and it may just calm things down a bit. As mentioned earlier, a win and you’re potentially a point of the play-offs, then who knows...