Paul Heckingbottom is in pole position to become PNE's new manager

Paul Heckingbottom is the leading candidate to become Preston North End’s new manager - and one player will surely be pleased.

The Lilywhites are looking to make a swift appointment, after Ryan Lowe’s exit last Monday and Mike Marsh’s decision to step down as interim boss - following Saturday’s loss at Swansea City. As reported, Heckingbottom is in pole position to land the job. He has interviewed for the position and it has since been claimed PNE are in ‘advanced talks’.

North End centre-back Liam Lindsay is one man with experience of playing under Heckingbottom. He was at Barnsley during the 47-year-old’s Oakwell stint. It was Heckingbottom who signed Lindsay in the summer of 2017. Despite his exit to Leeds United, in February 2018, the Scot retained a high opinion of Heckingbottom and felt the Tykes would’ve avoided relegation under him.

Back in 2019, Lindsay said: “The main thing about him is that everyone will know what they are doing. Tactically and in terms of organisation, he is brilliant. If there is a mistake made, there is no blaming everyone else. Everyone knows what they need to do. He is very approachable.

“You can speak to him if anything is going wrong. You can have a joke with him before training but when training starts it is serious - training is good and sharp. If everyone buys into what he is doing and everyone is disciplined, then I am sure they will shoot up that league.”

He added: “I really enjoyed working under him. I am obviously grateful for him having belief in me and he played me in nearly every game. I am sure if we had kept him we would have stayed up to be honest. You know when you have a manager who knows what he is talking about. You have respect for him. We all had respect for him down here and we all played for him.”