'It feels like' - Paul Heckingbottom makes Preston North End assessment supporters will love

Paul Heckingbottom has been the manager of Preston North End for five weeks - and the fit feels just right for him.

The Lilywhites moved quickly to bring the 47-year-old to the club, following Ryan Lowe’s sudden exit - one game into the 2024/25 campaign. Things moved quickly for Heckingbottom, who had been out of work since December and waiting for the right opportunity to come along. He recently explained how he had a few chances to return straight to work, after leaving Sheffield United.

When the call came from Preston, though, Heckingbottom headed home from his holiday and the appointment was sorted swiftly. It was straight into a three game week for him, prior to the first international break of the season. North End beat Luton Town at home and then went to Harrogate Town and won in the Carabao Cup, but closed out August with a frustrating defeat at Oxford United.

A valuable fortnight on the training pitch then presented itself to Heckingbottom and PNE picked up a positive point at Middlesbrough, in the first game back. Penalty shootout drama of the highest order followed, as Fulham were dumped out of the cup at Deepdale - before last weekend’s derby day draw with Blackburn Rovers. Post-match, the North End boss took a moment to reflect on everything so far.

“I am enjoying it, yeah,” said Heckingbottom. “It is good to be back working and be back on the sidelines - the bit I enjoy best, being involved in those games. But, I got asked the other day about how I have settled. The pleasing thing for me is that it feels like I’ve been here a long time already. It feels like home, so that’s a good thing.”

And on the PNE fans, he added: “They have been fantastic. They got us over the line against Luton, in the first game. I think they probably got really excited again when it got levelled up at 10-all, in terms of players (against Blackburn). So yeah, they’ve had three totally different games in my time here, but all entertaining for different reasons.”