Today marks a whole year since Ryan Lowe became manager of Preston North End, so just how is he getting on at Deepdale?
PNE took the decision to sack Frankie McAvoy after derby day defeat to Blackburn Rovers.
Whilst a few names there thrown out, it quickly became clear that North End had made Lowe their top target for the job.
Lowe had guided Bury to promotion from League Two back in 2019, before the Shakers went into financial meltdown.
Lowe took over at Plymouth and immediately took them to League One as well before consolidating and turning Argyle into promotion contenders.
PNE had seen enough and made the move to bring Lowe to Deepdale in a rather rare case of North End prising a manager away from another club.
That in itself left PNE fans excited and you have to say that the first year has been encouraging on the whole.
Sure, there have been disappointments.
Losing 4-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers was devastating, as was been beaten 4-2 at Blackpool. Heavy derby day defeats are never going to be taken well but Lowe did also give PNE fans a 1-0 win over Blackpool in April.
There have been real highs too; so many quality away wins spring to mind and Lowe certainly used those to help unite the fanbase behind him and the team.
Yet if you cast your mind back to Lowe’s arrival, he promised an exciting brand of attacking football and those words have almost been used as a stick to beat him with at times.
PNE haven’t exactly been free-flowing and goals have been very hard to come by for large parts of this season.
We can’t put all of that at Lowe’s door though given the limited budget at his disposal in the transfer market.
Considering the budget Lowe has to work with, the Liverpudlian is working wonders having PNE challenge for the top six – even if that still feels like al long shot.
We would love to see Lowe backed in the transfer market moving forward, allowing him to bring in the attacking players that he would no doubt love to build around.
Whether that happens will be up to people above Lowe’s pay grade, but to have PNE in ninth after a year in charge is hugely impressive.
Lowe also appears to have somewhat toned down his interviews in the press, realising that he may have raised expectations a little too high over the summer.
It’s sometimes important to remember that it’s not all that long ago that Lowe was managing in League Two.
We have to accept some ups and downs with Lowe as he copes with being a Championship boss and all that entails; the expectation, the tactical nous, the increase in quality and battles against teams with comparatively enormous budgets.
Lowe will have known about and expected all of this before taking the job but they are still factors he must deal with on a regular basis.
So far, Lowe is handling it pretty well and if he can secure a top half finish, PNE fans would probably say it has been a great season.
Lowe may still have a few to completely win over and that’s fair, but he has PNE grinding out results this season and deserves to be commended.
We would love to see Lowe in the Deepdale dugout for years to come and with a few more transfer windows, we will hopefully see that free-flowing attacking brand regularly.