'I could've easily' - Ryan Lowe explains Plymouth Argyle transfer stance at Preston North End

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe has explained why he never brought any Plymouth Argyle players with him to Deepdale.

The Lilywhites lured Lowe away from Home Park in December 2021. This weekend, the Preston boss will go back to his old club for the first time since that departure. North End are looking to keep pace with the play-off chasing pack, while Argyle are in the scrap for survival.

One player PNE will have to keep a close eye on is Ryan Hardie - the Plymouth front man who was signed by Lowe and has scored 12 league goals this season. Ahead of Saturday's clash, the North End chief was asked if the Scot has surprised him by stepping up to Championship level.

"I should've signed him, shouldn't I really?!" laughed Lowe. "Has he surprised me? He's a great lad, Ry and I still speak to him now. He scored a fantastic goal against Sunderland the other week and as soon as I saw it, thought: 'That's the Ryan Hardie I brought from Blackpool reserves'. He came down to Plymouth and scored goals, off the bench actually. He will take this light hearted - he was actually our super-sub when he first came down.

"He was coming off the bench and scoring and he was unbelievable. The following season, we decided to take him again - signed him on a long-term contract and paid some money for him. He hasn't looked back, to be fair. He is a great kid, great goal scorer and deserves the credit and goals he is getting. But yeah, he was one that - could he step up to Championship level? There were question marks, I am not going to lie. But, he has done it and he's done it glowingly. I am really pleased for him, but hopefully we can keep him quiet at the weekend."

With Lowe arriving in December, many North End supporters will have anticipated him swooping in for some of Argyle's star men - either in January or the summer. That never transpired though, with Lowe playing down talk of doing so at a fans' forum shortly after his appointment. It is something he has stuck by, having joked at the time that he'd be charged double.

"Do you know what? I am morally different," said Lowe. "I would like to think I am a respectful fella... when I left Plymouth, I could've easily brought players with me to Preston North End. But, I had so much respect for Plymouth Argyle as a football club - and the fan base, the owner, the CEO and everyone associated. I didn't feel I needed to do anything like that. I just felt there were other players who were just as good.

"And that's one thing I never did - go back for any players, when I could've easily done. Because, I wouldn't have liked that if it was me - so I just chose not to. At the time, Schuey was the manager and obviously one of my best mates. I had so much love for everyone at the club and felt it was just too hard to do. That's the reason I never did it, because I left anyway - which wasn't great.

"But, the last thing I wanted to do was go back and get any players. And then, we ended up getting Cameron Archer and Tom Cannon, in terms of strikers. Some people were settled down there; some people played in positions we had players for anyway, so we didn't really need them. But, I always felt that, on a personal note for me, I didn't really want to do that."