Preston North End head coach Frankie McAvoy outlines Peter Ridsdale's role in recruitment at Deepdale

McAvoy, 53, was appointed head coach on Monday after a successful eight-game spell in interim charge.

He is the first to hold that job description at PNE, his predecessors having had the ‘manager’ title.

The Scot will still be involved in recruitment of players but Ridsdale, who is advisor to North End owner Trevor Hemmings, will be the head of it.

James Beet, who was brought in from Barnsley as senior recruitment analyst, will play a prominent role.

McAvoy told the Lancashire Post: “I work for Peter Ridsdale and Craig Hemmings the chairman.

“They are the guys who do the work for Mr Hemmings and the Hemmings family.

“My role is to coach the players and get the best out of them, that is what I do.

“In terms of recruitment Peter is in charge of that process and I will have input about where we need to strengthen.

“I speak to Peter every day and we talk about recruitment all the time.

“We’ve got James Beet here as part of the recruitment process, he did a good job at Barnsley and now he’s here to help us.”

Ridsdale has always played a big part in recruitment in his time at Deepdale.

He has been responsible for negotiating transfer fees, sales and contracts.

When Alex Neil was manager, he and Ridsdale would frequently travel to games together to watch targets and follow up reports from the scouting team.

Joe Savage left PNE as head of recruitment in December to become Hearts’ sporting director, with Ridsdale now filling the gap left by his exit.

In terms of being head coach rather than manager, McAvoy thinks it makes little difference to what he does.

McAvoy said: “At the end of the day, a title doesn’t matter that much. I don’t think I should change because I’m the head coach rather than being in interim charge.

“We’ve got a coaching team here in myself, Paul Gallagher, Steve Thompson and Mike Pollitt who are looking to take the club forward.

“The most important thing is that we create leadership because ultimately leadership is what creates other leaders.

“It is about a strong team and a strong group, something we have placed a lot of emphasis on.”

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