Paul Gallagher departure from Preston North End was confirmed on Tuesday after a 10 year association with the club.
As expected the Scotsman has moved on to link up with a former Preston manager. Alex Neil has moved to bring Gally to Stoke City with him as the duo will work together for the first time since Neil left Preston in 2021.
Paul Gallagher played under Alex Neil for the last four years of his playing career from 2017 to 2021 and was already working with the youth teams in that last season.
When Neil left the club and the job was given to his number two Frankie McAvoy, Gallagher moved into a coaching position at the club.
The former Stoke City loanee kept that role when Ryan Lowe took over from McAvoy, working alongside Mike Marsh and Mike Pollitt.
However it seems he has been lured into working with Neil again and today Gallagher spoke about the temptation of working with him again.
Speaking to the official Stoke City website he said ‘The chance to work with Alex again was naturally appealing to me. I am fortunate to have experienced his methods first hand and have a complete belief in his philosophy on the game and how he delivers and communicates that to the players, which is something I have benefitted from both as a player and as a coach.’
Gallagher clearly rates Neil as a manager and the 38-year-old feels that this is a better career move for him than staying under Ryan Lowe’s stewardship.
Lowe’s philosophy certainly differs to Neil’s with two very different tactical approaches. Gallagher had great success playing in Neil’s system and they will both now and transform Stoke’s fortunes on the pitch.
Preston have already replaced Gallagher with Peter Murphy who was previously on the staff at Wigan Athletic.
Stoke have finished below Preston in all five of their Championship seasons since being relegated from the Premier League in 2018.
Gallagher actually played on loan for Stoke either side of his first loan spell at Preston which came in 2007 under Paul Simpson.
He went on to play over 300 games for the club after joining again initially on loan under Simon Grayson in 2013.
It’s a shame to see Gally leave and if Daniel Johnson ends up signing for Stoke as well as is expected then it will make for two very interesting fixtures this season.