Preston North End are on the search for a new manager after Paul Heckingbottom left the club on Sunday.
His departure follows a poor start to the season for North End, who have lost six out of their seven Championship games and sit second-from-bottom of the league.
It is therefore imperative that the club get this appointment right. From experienced Championship coaches to established lower league names, here are some managers that the PNE hierarchy could be looking at.
1. Rob Edwards
The 43-year-old won promotion to the Premier League with Luton Town in 2023 but lost his job after a poor run of form at the back end of their relegation season and the first half of the following campaign. He had a short spell at Middlesbrough before leaving to try and save Wolves, a club close to his heart, from relegation. Despite a slight upturn in form, he was sacked in the summer after their drop to the second-tier was confirmed. He has also managed Watford and led Forest Green to promotion from League Two. A good manager, but he has spent over a year at just one of those clubs. Is he the right man for a long-term project? | Alex Pantling/Getty Images
2. Graham Alexander
Having recorded over 400 appearances for PNE across two separate spells, 'Grezza' would be the romantic or sentimental choice. He has three promotions on his CV but all at lower levels: guiding Fleetwood Town to League One in 2014, taking Salford City to the Football League five years later, and bringing the good times back to Bradford City with promotion to the third-tier in 2024. He is still in charge of the Bantams and is immensely popular with their fans, but could PNE have him on their shortlist? He is unproven in the Championship, however, and it would cost to take him away from Valley Parade. | Getty Images
3. Carlos Corberan
Corberan left Spanish La Liga side Valencia on the same day Heckingbottom departed PNE, after failing to win their opening five games and sitting bottom of the league. That, however, does not tell the full story of him as a manager. He led Valencia to a ten-game unbeaten run in his first few months at the club, including a 2-1 win at Real Madrid. He also has experience coaching in the Championship; his Huddersfield Town side were one win away from Premier League football in 2022, masterminding a 17-match streak without a loss midway through that season. He helped West Brom avoid relegation in the following campaign and they finished fifth the season after. He was u23s coach at Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds prior to those first-team management gigs. This would be an ambitious appointment - PNE's first non-British or Irish manager - and he could be one of many European names on the list. | JOSE JORDAN / AFP via Getty Images
4. Steve Cooper
After finishing in the play-offs twice with Swansea City but struggling to jump that final hurdle, Cooper won promotion with Nottingham Forest in May 2022 after victory over Corberan's Huddersfield. It was a remarkable turnaround for Forest, who were rock bottom of the Championship when he had arrived the previous September. After a 16th-placed finish in the top flight the season after, Cooper left the City Ground in December 2023. An unsuccessful, short spell at Leicester followed. He was appointed manager at Danish Superliga side Brondby last year but only lasted eight months after a poor run of results in the second half of the season. | Tom Dulat/Getty Images