Can Ryan Lowe turn Preston North End's fortunes around?

Preston North End are enjoying their seventh straight season in the EFL Championship. However, on two out of their last four seasons, they were very close to playing in the Championship play-offs. Interestingly, on each of those two occasions, it was Alex Neil who was in charge of Preston.

Preston's performances under Alex Neil

Alex Neil's first season in charge was way back in the 2017/18 Championship campaign. He arrived at the club after a moderately successful spell at Norwich City for three years. Before his arrival, Preston had failed to break into the Championship's top ten.

In his first season in charge, Preston finished seventh in the table, missing out on the play-offs by a solitary point. Two seasons later, they finished ninth again.

The decision to continue with Frankie McAvoy at the start of the season

A bad start to their 2020-21 season saw the club struggling at the 16th place in the table by March. Despite the club winning three out of their last five league games at the time, Neil decided to leave the club by mutual consent.

Frankie McAvoy, his assistant, got the managerial role on an interim basis. Despite an indifferent string of results, Preston finished 13th last term gleaning some salvation following Neil's departure.

While a number of names were speculated for the vacant manager's post at Preston, the club decided to offer it to none other than McAvoy himself. The decision came on the back of the club's decision to part with some of their first-team regulars. While the intention was to pursue austerity measures for the ongoing season by retaining their assistant manager with a depleted squad, the decision turned catastrophic.

Stuttering start to the new season

Preston kickstarted their campaign with three successive draws before wrapping up a 4-1 win against Cheltenham. A defeat to QPR two games later saw the club lose eleven points from a possible twelve.

Defeat in the EFL Cup against Liverpool was followed by four successive defeats. A 1-0 away defeat to Blackburn Rovers was the final game in charge for McAvoy. His position had become very untenable following the club's wretched start to the campaign.

McAvoy's sacking and the welcoming of Ryan Lowe

Ryan Lowe, employed in Plymouth for the ongoing season after promoting them to League One last year, was announced as the new head coach for Preston. Despite being a new face, Lowe has achieved quite a lot in his short managerial career in the lower divisions.

His impact was immediately felt as the club snapped their 4-match losing streak with a 2-1 win against Barnsley. Having taken the club from 18th to 15th in the table in a matter of one game, Preston will hope that they can move up to at least the top-half by the end of the season.