Preston North End next manager state of play as ex-Birmingham City and Stoke City men linked
Ryan Lowe left his job as PNE manager on Monday
Preston North End have not got to the stage of finalising a managerial shortlist yet.
The Lilywhites confirmed Ryan Lowe’s exit on Monday morning, one game into the 2024/25 season and two-and-a-half years into his tenure. Mike Marsh has been placed in interim charge and oversaw Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Sunderland. He will now take Saturday’s league clash at Swansea City, alongside Peter Murphy and Ched Evans.
Next week, PNE will make an announcement regarding further arrangements. North End director Peter Ridsdale said he had taken 60 to 70 phone calls on Monday morning, with plenty of those from agents. The Lancashire Post understands that Tuesday was spent gathering a whole host of names and attempting to order them, with 85 applications for the job received.
On the likelihood of there being a permanent manager in place by the time PNE host Luton Town, on August 24, Ridsdale said this week: “I have no idea. The fact is that we’ve said two games, because that is the immediate future - Sunderland and Swansea. Mike said he was 100 per cent prepared to do that and looking forward to it.
“The timing then of what happens next is determined by all sorts of factors - and one of those will be who we think we might want to talk to, and how easy it is to talk to them. It could take a week, it could take three weeks. We’ve got an international break coming up, in the not too distance future. The critical thing is we have to get it right.”
Ahead of the midweek encounter against Sunderland, Sky Sports’ Rob Dorsett reported that PNE’s short list contained six candidates: Alex Neil, Paul Gallagher, Gary Rowett, Brian Barry-Murphy, Scott Lindsey and, surprisingly, Blackburn Rovers boss John Eustace. The Lancashire Post had already suggested former boss Neil would be open to talks over a return. David Moyes has been the consistent second favourite for the job, with the bookies.
When asked about the Scotsman, Ridsdale said on Monday: “I didn’t know that and haven’t had time to think about it. Do I expect that to happen? I don’t, but that’s not because I know it won’t. I just didn’t expect it to happen. I have no idea and that favouritism of the bookies is not based on any knowledge I’ve got.”