Preston boss Ryan Lowe is approaching three months in the job now, and he will have learned a lot about his squad at Deepdale.
Lowe has largely impressed in charge of North End, bringing an attractive style of play as well as providing some great away days.
This is despite the fact that Lowe is working with a squad that isn’t really his own.
Lowe has had just one transfer window at Preston, securing the loan signing of Cameron Archer and the short-term deal for Bambo Diaby.
With Preston not going up or down this season, North End preferred to wait until the summer to go and spend money to back Lowe in the transfer market.
Just over two months of the season are left, and this is the time of year when players start to learn about their futures beyond the end of the season.
We’re expecting something of a squad overhaul this summer, and nine players are in danger of leaving.
The highest profile departures could be Tom Barkhuizen and Scott Sinclair. Both are out of contract this summer and may be leaving for free.
Barkhuizen’s injury struggles this season have come at the worst possible time. Lowe wants a squad of players he can rely on, players who will be available week in and week out.
That hasn’t been the case for Barkhuizen during Lowe’s reign, and with no defined role in this North End side, it may be time for the 2017 signing from Morecambe to say an emotional goodbye.
Sinclair is in a similar boat in that he is a wide man who just hasn’t quite fit into the Preston side.
Not a striker nor a wing back, Sinclair keeps being utilised in both positions without much success.
Likely to be one of the club’s highest earners and turning 33 later this month, Preston will surely move on from Sinclair, who hasn’t quite lived up to his billing.
So what of the other players?
Possibly even more emotional than Barkhuizen’s exit would be the departure of defender Paul Huntington.
Huntington has been at Preston for nearly 10 years now having arrived from Yeovil Town back in 2012.
The defender has racked up more than 300 appearances for Preston and has been a great dressing room presence. Huntington’s exit would really signify the end of the League One days, with pillars like Tom Clarke and Paul Gallagher already gone.
With no first-team appearances this season and his 35th birthday coming later this year, an exit is surely on the cards.
Joe Rafferty has turned in a couple of decent showings under Ryan Lowe but will likely have plenty of League One interest and isn’t the long-term solution to Preston’s wing back situation.
Goalkeeper Connor Ripley clearly isn’t fancied at Preston and surely won’t get a new deal, whilst Izzy Brown’s injury history means his contract option surely won’t get activated.
Mathew Hudson is 24 this summer and isn’t getting anywhere at Preston but offers a homegrown option in the squad, something that could just sway North End into another deal.
Ethan Walker isn’t an easy one. Walker looked like becoming a star after emerging through the Preston ranks but hasn’t been able to kick on.
Walker turns 20 this summer and needs to think what is best for his development; playing senior action at a lower level or sticking around at North End and playing in the Central League to hopeful catch Lowe’s eye.
Jamie Thomas was a great story as he earned a move from Bamber Bridge to Preston, but is unlikely to stay after his loan spell at Halifax Town.
There are options on the likes of Oliver Lombard, Lewis Coulton, Jacob Holland-Wilkinson and Joe Rodwell-Grant. We would imagine Rodwell-Grant will land an extension, but the other three will be up for debate.
The most likely player of the lot to earn a new deal is defender Diaby, who has earned a short-term deal until the summer.
Diaby clearly has huge talent and just needs time to get back to his best having spent two years out of the game due to a doping ban.
Expect changes at Preston this summer. Lowe will hope to strengthen his squad with the exact players he wants, but part of that will be cutting the wage bill and trimming off players he has no plans for in the long-term.