'Outstanding candidate' - Peter Ridsdale on why Preston North End picked Paul Heckingbottom from 55 applicants

Preston North End chairman Peter Ridsdale says Mike Marsh’s exit accelerated the process of appointing Paul Heckingbottom as their new manager.

The former Barnsley, Leeds United, Hibernian and Sheffield United man was the ‘outstanding’ candidate picked from a list of 55 applicants in the end. The Yorkshireman guided the Blades to promotion to the Premier League in 2023, after they finished second.

He was then dismissed from Bramall Lane in December 2023 and has since been weighing up his options since. Preston will hope he can spark improvement, following the exit of Ryan Lowe. Their former manager departed following their opening day loss at home to Sheffield United.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Ridsdale has explained why he has chosen Heckingbottom: “When we appointed Simon Grayson it was because he knew how to get teams out of League One and into the Championship and he did just that. Paul’s track record is very good, he’s obviously had a promotion with Barnsley but also more recently he took Sheffield United into the play-offs in his first season and then automatic promotion in his first full season.

“I think he got a raw deal at Sheffield United in the end. I don’t think they did any better after he left. He’s a very experienced manager, he’s a very good man-manager. A couple of our players here have played for him in the past and he was the outstanding candidate from a list of 55 applicants.”

He added: “We talked and did due diligence on the majority (of the 55). To be frank, there were a number of names who I had never heard of who were overseas managers, so we checked them out. We had a shortlist last Friday of probably about 12 and over the weekend we started doing due diligence. However, interviewing is always difficult because some of those managers are in employment. We weren’t quite sure whether they had applied or if it was their agent.

“We didn’t want to embarrass them if they wanted to be offered the job and to then suddenly have a problem with their existing employer. Events of Saturday (losing to Swansea City) accelerated the process because we were originally targeting the international break, but Mike’s decision to say ‘thanks for the opportunity but I don’t want to take it forward’ meant it was a very busy Saturday night and Sunday. We finished here with Paul at 10 last night.”

Preston were beaten 3-0 away at Swansea City last time out and will be eager to bounce back with a positive result at home to Luton Town - in Heckingbottom’s first game at the helm this weekend at Deepdale.

The Hatters make the trip up north after drawing 0-0 against Portsmouth in their last game at Fratton Park. The Lilywhites’ new manager has the chance to add to his newly inherited squad in the transfer window, between now and next Friday. He will be assisted by the experienced Stuart McCall as his number two.