Ex-Sunderland and Stoke City manager interested in Preston North End return as 47-year-old also linked

Preston North End are looking to appoint a new manager, following Ryan Lowe’s exit one game into the 2024/25 season.

The Lilywhites parted ways with the 45-year-old on Monday, bringing to an end his two-and-a-half year tenure. PNE were beaten 0-2 by Sheffield United last Friday and, after being booed off at Deepdale, Lowe pushed for a departure - with North End director Peter Ridsdale saying the Liverpudlian felt he had taken the club as far as he could.

Mike Marsh, Peter Murphy and Ched Evans will take caretaker charge of the next two games, against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup and Swansea City in the league. North End’s search for a new boss has begun, with Preston director Peter Ridsdale having explained the criteria to the Lancashire Post on Monday.

At the time of writing (18:30, 12/08/24), former Leeds United and Sheffield United boss is favourite with the bookies - while PNE legend David Moyes, who left his job at West Ham United this summer, is second. Heckingbottom would reportedly be keen on the job. The Lancashire Post understands ex-North End chief Alex Neil is also interested in the vacancy.

Neil has been out of work since December 2023, when his time at Stoke City came to an end after 16 months. The Scot managed 191 games at Deepdale between the summer of 2017 and March 2021. He oversaw 7th, 14th and 9th placed finishes at North End, before the turbulent behind-closed-doors campaign in 2020/21. Neil went on to guide Sunderland to promotion from League One, via the play-offs, before making the move to the Potteries in August 2022.

On the next manager target, Ridsdale said: “Well, the easy thing to say is somebody who wins football matches. But, what we also need is someone who has probably got a flexible management style, in terms of formation, not necessarily somebody who is rigid to a particular formula. And, we will have squad by tomorrow where we don’t need to be wedded to a particular system in every game.

“We’ll have players who can play further forward, in a flat back four and a 3-5-2. We will have a far more flexible squad option available, than maybe we’ve had in the past or wanted to have in the past. So, I think to that degree we’ll be looking for somebody who can have a squad that adapts to the game we’re about to play - as opposed to ‘we are predictable’.”