'I have stressed that' - Ryan Lowe's accepts big thing about his Preston North End tenure

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe believes next season is the time for his team to take obvious forward strides.

The Lilywhites are 10th after 44 games, sitting on 63 points. North End were in the play-off hunt until the last three, consecutive defeats to Norwich City, Southampton and QPR. Preston now have Leicester City to host, before the final day trip to West Brom.

As things stand, PNE have collected the same number of points as they finished on last season - having reached 64 the season before. With Lowe two-and-half years into the job now, he accepts a crucial period is ahead for him and the team.

“It is, yeah,” said Lowe. “That’s it, we are trying to get to that next level. When I first came in, half way through the season, I don’t think we were ever going to be in a dogfight - with the players we had at the time. But, the change was the change and we got them where we got them. Last season was good. We had, probably, too many loan players; nothing against them, they were all excellent. This year, we’ve only had one that’s been with us all season. I think the nucleus of the squad has been well balanced.

“A fantastic group, because when they are your own, there’s more togetherness. But yeah, next season is a big season for us, I think. I have stressed that to the recruitment team and stressed that to the players - the ones contracted - for us to keep pushing, believing and progressing. I think the progression has been fine, slowly, but I’d like it to be a little bit more. Going off KPIs and whatever else - decisions and individual errors, maybe, we’d definitely have more points. And who knows? But, it’s always a target to beat what you finish on.

“Hopefully, we can beat last season’s and you’ll see progression. Then, hopefully next season we can have a real good go of it. Again, it all depends - there might be some money filtering down from the Premier League, which will help us. You’ve obviously got to get ahead of the teams coming down, with the parachute payments, because they just blow everyone out of the water and that’s why it’s a little bit unfair. I think the top three or four can probably speak for itself, then there’s two, maybe three, more spaces for someone like Preston North End to try and get in.”

In terms of the journey so far, success at North End was always unlikely to come overnight for Lowe. He has now had five transfer windows and been backed by the powers that be, to continue through testing times. Overstaying his welcome has never been something Lowe wants to do - he made that clear when he arrived. Sitting here today, though, Preston are roughly where he expected them to be and therefore he’s content.

“We have probably overachieved,” said Lowe. “And what I will say, is that Peter, Craig and the family have been brilliant in everything we’ve asked them to do. They have backed us, we’ve signed players and offered big fees. They have given us the tools and the funds to go and do it, which you can see. And that obviously helps, along the way. We are not going to get a big injection of £20million that can push you, but if there are any small injections that can help us along the way - and people going, then we can use money to go and get some.

“There are loads of players out there who you’d like to sign, whether it’s loan or permanent. But yeah, the progression has been fine for us. It’s what I expected. Did I expect a few more wins on the board? Yeah. Did we believe and think we could push in there and keep it going, down to the wire? Yeah, of course we did. Has a lack of concentration, decision making and individual errors cost us along the way - and decisions that haven’t gone our way, from officials? Yeah, of course, but that’s part and parcel of football. You have to just get on with it. So, as long as I keep seeing progression and Craig and Peter are happy, then we’ll keep going.”