Paul Heckingbottom delivers brutally honest 'little rant' at one thing Preston North End must change

Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom has not held back on his views around atmosphere on a home match day.

The comments from PNE’s manager come after last weekend’s memorable 3-0 win over Burnley, as Preston booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals - where they will host Aston Villa at the end of the month.

That tie was the early topic of Heckingbottom’s pre-match press conference on Monday and - while excited for the occasion - it prompted him to air a gripe of his once again. He has previously admitted that certain matches have a completely different feel around them.

Whereas, Heckingbottom feels strongly that a more consistent mood at PNE’s home ground would go an awfully long way. A giant tifo being targeted for the Villa clash is something he is absolutely in favour of but, with Swansea City’s trip to Lancashire one day away, the quarter-final is at the back of his mind.

“Yeah, listen, I welcome that,” said Heckingbottom. “I’ve spoken to Peter (Ridsdale) a lot and Ben (Rhodes) about things we can do to get the atmosphere rocking in the games. We've had some good nights, especially at Deepdale since we've been here. But again, it's usually on us. We've got a lot of games and I spoke to the players this morning about it... our next run of fixtures is fantastic.

“All the way up until the 12th of April when we play Leeds away, the biggest away game you can think of. Sheffield United and Sunderland coming up, probably two and three of the biggest away games you can have. In and around that we've got so many games at home, against teams in and around us or below us. And this will be one thing I want to change here.

“The atmosphere will be different. It'll be flat; it'll be dead. It'll be up to us to generate it. But they're bigger games for me... they are the big games. So, yes, 100 per cent I want us to get that for the FA Cup. Why aren't we doing more in every single game? We try our best on the pitch to do it. I want more; I want that different feel because it makes a difference.

“It's almost like the leash comes off, the shackles come off because there's no expectation. So everyone just goes and enjoys themselves. And then when there's an expectation on us to win, it's down, it's dour and everyone's scared. I include everyone in that: people, the staff here, everything. It's backwards. It's the wrong way round. So, yes, just my little rant about it all there. I just want to change that.

“The FA Cup quarter-final with Aston Villa will take care of itself. We've got too many games before that to be thinking about it - too many big games where there's points up for grabs. If we perform like we did at the weekend - in a big Cup game, a derby game, a full house - on Tuesday night, then we'll give Swansea a hard time.

“Lots of things went into that performance and everyone's got a role to play in that. Not just the players and the staff. Everyone around the club, the fans, everyone... I expect us to go and win. Let's have the same mentality, the same noise inside the stadium and the same approach from everyone into all these games.

“Ben has been in meetings here with fans' representatives and Ben sits with them. Because it's what the fans want, isn't it? I want the fans to enjoy their game. We try and do our best by performing well and playing in a way the fans can relate to, but from my point of view I want it back the other way as well.

“There's games where you're not at your best and the fans can get you over the line, you know? It's really, really important and the closer you can get that, the better we'll be. The more points we'll pick up and the more days we'll have, like we had at the weekend.”

“It’s important to try and keep that.”

Heckingbottom’s focus is on continually improving Preston’s atmosphere, but does he feel like stadiums across the board have become quieter?

“I don't know, you just notice a place when it's rocking,” said Heckingbottom. “You do; it'll never change. The big thing is about the football that's played and success, whether that's to fill the ground or to get the fans going. I think our fans are good.

“Some clubs you go to and the dynamic of the fans, you can just feel it's changed over the years from playing there, managing there or coaching there. The attachment to the fans, their club and their players has gone and things like that.

“Since I've come in, you get to know everyone and I think the fans still feel a real part of this club. They've got a good relationship with it, a good attachment to it and they feel like they're still at the forefront of decisions and part of the club. Some others, you know that's gone, so it's important to try and keep that.”

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