Paul Heckingbottom's one big Preston North End priority now has serious jeopardy surrounding it

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has been clear about the changes he’d like to make at the club, but now faces a challenge to keep the Lilywhites in the league.

This weekend, PNE head to Bristol City looking to secure survival. Preston blew their opportunity at home to all-but relegated Plymouth Argyle last weekend, and are now in a relegation dogfight on the final day. One of Hull City, Luton Town, North End, Derby County or Stoke City will go down on Saturday.

Preston have plummeted down the division, having not been perceived as relegation candidates for the vast majority of the campaign. But, with it one win in 14 league games they are very much at risk of dropping out of the division after 10 years in it.

Only last week, Heckingbottom once again discussed one area he feels North End must strive for improvement in. The former Sheffield United boss has called out mentality and environment in recent weeks - stressing the need to have ‘winners’ not just in the dressing room, but throughout the club.

When asked what he wants to see more of, in that regard, he said, last week: “It’s those challenges of getting over the line, because it's easy to behave like a winner here. Where's the pressure, other than what we put on ourselves? Getting over the line on a match day, where, you're always judged - some of my favourite players I've worked with could be a pain in the arse Monday to Friday. Forever waiting to give them a slap, but cross the white line and ‘poof’... do you know what I mean?

“It's always about the game. Your questions will be led about the game; people’s opinion of me, or the players, will be based around results. So, whatever we practice in the week, we're practicing the right things. We speak about developing that mentality, working on a big challenge and how you come through it. But the test is in the game, and that’s why you should always reflect really well on the game, how you behave and how you perform. That will always be the test, always.”

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about.”

On whether he senses it has been a comfy place in recent times, he added: “I don’t know, because I wasn’t here. My experience, like I said, it's almost we had a couple of good cup runs, some great days, we got away from trouble, we got to mid-table, we get beat off Villa... ‘Oh, we’ve done well, we’ve got away from trouble, had a real good cup run’. There’s another game. That’s certainly my take on it. I should’ve shot down every question you guys asked about last season.

“With everyone... players, staff, Peter (Ridsdale), everyone - next game. So that’s what I said, I think, after one of the home games. That’s something I'll certainly be judging myself on - how we end next season. Because that's something that, yeah, if it's not in you... everyone competes, everyone's trying their best, but subconsciously, some people, you could have them doing anything and they just become animals to win. Like I said, that's not in the week, that's when it's on.

“It’s something I've been thinking about, something I've been writing things down about already, because it's important. It's not just as easy as changing players; we're not going to have the biggest budget, we're not going to go and buy our way out of here. So, we have to do things differently and part of that is recruiting really well, then working and creating an environment here which gets the best out of everyone, all the time. So, we've got to enjoy doing that and it's something I'm looking forward to.”

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