Preston part company with Phil Brown

The BBC sports page is reporting that Preston and Phil Brown have parted company , Browns assistant Brian Horton has also left the club .

As a North End fan (possibly the only one on the board ). I'm suprised but not massively disappointed.

We have been beyond awful in the last 2/3 months, and the performances and entertainment factor have been zilch, which is why I'm not disappointed.

I'm suprised though because the crowd hadn't turned on him, he got a suprisingly good reception on Saturday (0-0 v Stevenage) and we've just appointed Peter Risdale (uncontrollable joy at that one) and I though he would have given him more time.

I have no idea who will be the next manager, I have a feeling it will Graham Alexander, as it's the cheap option and will have the majority of the fans backing

Not really suprised. PNE's results have been dreadful, They are falling futher behind in div 1, and with the money problems at the club they need to get up/out of the division sooner rather than later.

Marshall,

last night on radio 5live, there was an out of work north west based manager almost pleading for the opportunity to get another chance.
His name, Paul Ince, would not be suptised if he's given the opporgunity.

I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Bruce wasn't mentioned aswell .

Dave Jones is one I've heard since the news, he was a former North End player and has worked with Risdale at Cardiff, so it might be a good fit.

I wouldn't be adverse to Paul Ince, not overly keen but he's got a reasonable track record. I think whoever comes in will find it a struggle with the club the way it is at the moment though

I don't think there is any chance of Bruce, I doubt we could even afford a decent wage for him, nevermind transfer budgets etc that he'd want

Not overly sure about Jones, in my opinion he needs to spend money and i don't think PNE have got any.

Ince has a good record at lower division clubs, Plus living in the area helps, and could possably work with a cheaper budget and could help attract players.

Do you believe that Fergusion (younger) is the reason you're in this mess? I now the club seems to have been mis managed for years, but you went from a steady championship side to relegation candidates very quickly.

Personally no, he had a part to play but the rot set in under Alan Irvine, who whilst a decent enough man manger/tactician could not sign a player to save his life. If the rumours are true he passed on the opportunity to sign Charlie Adam before he went to Blackpool, instead signing a random Macedonion for around £750,000, who played about 10 games turned out to be useless and was released on a free.

Under the Irvine/Simpson era a lot of money was wasted on very average players, Darren Carter, Kevin Nicholls, Steve Elliott, Richard Chaplow who were all around the £1m mark, premier league wages and were let go for nothing. So it's a combination of poor managment and poor decision making from the people at the top, if you factor in that we received £6m for David Nugent, then we'd be in even bigger trouble, and I'm still unsure where that money ended up getting spent.

Ferguson was unfortunate in that he took over at a time when the club realised that had been overspending and needed to cut their cloth accordingly, hence he had a much smaller budget than previously and needed to sell players. That said the majority of players he signed were League 1 standard at best, and he had an annoying tendency to rely on loan players (especially from Daddy) who weren't good enough and couldn't give a stuff about the club. In his defence though the youth team came on leaps and bounds under him, to the extent where we could field a whole team of youth teamers now, which should secure the clubs future

I saw PNE a few times when Irvine was manager, and could never work out why such a talanted squad played so abismally. He never seemed to know tactics, and to be honest there where players he played regularly that wheren't up to div 2 standard.
When under Fergusion, he just seemed lost, he had a plan but in my view the players just seemed not to care. I went to the Blackpool derby game, and there just seemed no passion or desire, that was when i started to worry for them. And as you say his reliance on the loan market was a problem.
As for the previous board, there mis managment and money wasting turned what should be a moderate debt into a bigger one than it needed to be.

Rubbing salt into the wounds eh Nando?

For whatever reason the players never seemed to rise to the Blackpool derby home game, it was always a different story at the away one where bizarrely we always seemed to play brilliantly.

There are (and have been) a lot of things wrong with the club which we're only really starting to discover now, the wages we were paying weren't sustainable for a championship club averaging 12/13 thousand at most, and I think we're paying a heavy price for never managing to scrape our way through one play off campaign

Marshall

How do you rate Mellor?

Personally I think he's a quality player, good enough for championship, maybe even get in some prem teams.

On his day he is far to good for the league he is in, and at times you can tell the Liverpool upbringing, unfortunately injury has hindered him massively.

He's a hard worker, suprisingly powerful/quick runner, but I just don't rate him as a finisher, he seems to be stuck in 'hit and hope' mode at the moment, with no subtley or thought of placing the ball.

Apparently Rangers are interested in him, I really don't think he's of that standard but it would be interesting to see how he'd fare at somewhere like that

Crowds are always going to be a problem, with both Liverpool & Manchester clubs an hour away.
The fact that you are the only large Lancashire side not to have been in the Prem has also affected the crowds.
Though not sure what to make of your season so far, the division is still fairly close (you're only 5 points of the last play off place) that the right appoinment could have a massive effect, and with the christmas schedule you could be rigjt back in the hunt come the beginning of the new year.

God help you Ian Dowie was on Sky Sports declaring his interest .

Shame about Wayne Henderson, had to retire from a back injury I believe.

On the 606 site I went on the Preston board and asked what they thought of him, some positive comments.

I think Ian Dowie has declared his interest in just about every job going? He's not one I've heard mentioned and I'm not too worried that we'll get lumbered with him.

Billy Davies is odds on favourite with the bookies according to Sky Sports last night, that would be interesting given the history. Very good manager, so no problems there but an absolute scrote of a human being and given he left under a massive cloud last time I don't know how people would react to him.

To be honest I never saw much of Henderson, I don't think he played more than 10 games for us, and the only thing I can remember is that he dropped an absolute howler when we lost to Morecambe in the cup. But you never want to see anyone end up like that

I really can't see Davis getting the job after what happened last time, and what he said after leaving, i don't think Ridsdale is that stupid to annoy the fans first thing.

Dowie just declares an intrest in every job, despite blatently not being a good manager.

Who do you want Marshall, Someone with experince at this level? Or promote with in like Hull have done with Barmby

I'm not sure, if we do promote from within it will one of David Unsworth or Alexander, and they are both completely untested as managers, but both love the club and would have its best interests at heart. Also probably our two most successful managers recently (Billy and Moyes) have been promoted from within, so it might be a risk worth taking.

If they were to look outside for a manager, then realistically Dave Jones would be my prefered choice, although I think that would depend on funds etc

im a bit suprised however sadly thats how football is these days.

So what do you think of the appointment of Graham Westley then Marshall, think he'll do well for Preston?
He seems to have a good record.

Sorry mate only just spotted this again!

I don't know a huge amount about him to be honest, as you say he does have a good track record, but then again so did Ferguson and Simpson...

I am slightly worried that he had to defend his 'efficient, ruthless style of football', but if it gets results then I'm not too bothered. Also Stevenage have one of the best defensive records in the League, so it would great if he could bring that to North End, given our frankly appaling defensive record

I'm neither one way or the other on him at the moment, it's one of those 'time will tell' ones!

I couldnt stand the style of play Stevenage played so hopefully he wont do that at Preston. I saw them play Bury at least 3 times and each time they were dirty, long ball and diving to waste time. It was like watching a game of set plays!

The North End v Stevenage game earlier in the season was one the worst I have ever seen, it was garbage from start to finish, I'd actually forgotten about it until you mentioned it, hopefully I won't have to put up with that every week!

I have to say that at the moment I dont care how they play as long as we start getting points on the board. Promotion has to had at any cost this season.

I have to say also that I have never seen PNE play as well as they did under David Moyes and I considred at that time that he left because of lack on ambition by the board. I dont think they have changed much tho they did panice and give Alan Irving some money. If they had given that money to Billie davis who had just left it might have been a different story, but Irvine wasnt going to cut it.

Im open about the new guy and will give him a chance. I think he could do it. Phil Brown, in my opnion, should have kept PNE up last year and that first win came far to late. He didnt improve much this season.

I hate Preston now!

I take it that's because of Cummins mate?

Is he as good as his record suggests?

Marshall it's the LOI first division, he has a decent record against LOI premier teams, he has about 4 goals in about 7 games agaisnt them in the last 2 seasons. I don't know if he will make it over there to be honest, he is incredibly strong though ,fairly fast and has an eye for goal but he has never played at the top level in Ireland, his shooting could be a bit better as could his touch but he is superb at holding up the ball. He will be loved by Cork City fans for ever though, he scored a goal in the 94th minute of the final league game last season to win us the league and get us promoted!


I wish him the best of luck over there and will have to pop up into this threat to see how he does in the next few games.

I hear he played well last night?

Well is pushing it a bit, he did alright given the circumstances. In the first half he played up front on his own and really struggled, although this is probably down to a lack of support for him, the ball never really stuck with him and seemed to come straight back at us

In the second half we went 4-4-2 and he (and the whole team) seemed a lot brighter, there was one or two nice little touches, although he never got a sniff at goal I think this is down to a general lack of creativity rather than anything he did.

He did put a shift in though, which bodes well. But I can't really comment on his ability level/how well he'll do until both he and the whole team have settled in a bit more (7 of our starting line up only signed in Jan!)