The buck stops with me says Preston North End's interim boss Frankie McAvoy

As the main man at PNE following Alex Neil’s exit, the buck now stops with McAvoy in terms of getting the results necessary to ensure their Championship status.

Preparations are in full swing for Friday’s clash with Norwich at Deepdale which marks the start of the Scot’s interim tenure.

McAvoy has enjoyed his first week in the job, having some valuable time at Euxton working with the squad.

With the international break now drawing to a close, all eyes are on league leaders Norwich’s visit which kicks off an eight-game run to the end of the season.

Addressing his change of role, McAvoy said: “In terms of results and dealing with players, the buck stops with myself as interim head coach.

“The one thing about me is that I’m always open and always honest – I’m up front with people.

“I think people like that, I won’t make it more difficult to come and approach me.

“My job is to win games and I’ll do whatever is needed to achieve that.

“We’ve got a bubbly group of players, there’s always been a good camaraderie.

“It’s that team spirit we want to see continuing.”

Hitting the 50-point mark should see North End safe and a few more points on top would not go amiss.

McAvoy will not set any points targets – certainly not in public – and is not looking too far ahead.

“There are eight games to go and we’ll tick them off one by one,” said McAvoy.

“We are looking to compete in and win every game we play, that is the approach. I can’t say that we are going to be brilliant every game, that we are going to do this or going to do that.

“But we know what the job is and that we need some more points.

“What I want to do is carry on the good work which Alex did at Preston, he was fantastic here.

“I’ll take the good things I learned from Alex and put them into practice with my own stamp.

“It is on the pitch and the results we get which will determine if that is the right thing to do.”

McAvoy will hope to add Greg Cunningham and Andrew Hughes to the squad in time for Friday, both left-backs having been sidelined by injury of late.

Paul Gallagher joining the coaching staff under McAvoy and working exclusively on that side of the fence, opens up a space in the matchday squad.

He had featured in the last three games but will be in the technical area on Friday.

n PNE duo in Irish action – P38

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