Can Phil Brown Turn Preston Around?

Credit; here



It's been another tough week for football managers and, with the Premier League's top fancied 4 to get sacked (Ancelotti, Hodgson, Houllier and Grant) all surviving until writing, I turn the attention to the Championship, where Roy Keane was sacked by Ipswich Town last night.

We've all heard enough about whether managers were right to get sacked, but one team who simply had to get rid of their was Preston North End.

Darren Ferguson had been in charge less than a year when he was given the boot a week ago, on the 29th December, ironically the same date that Alan Irvine was sacked the season previous.

The new man in the hot seat is Phil Brown, who has been out of the game since being placed on the mysterious 'gardening leave ' by Hull in March, and I doubt that the North End hierarchy could have picked a better man for the job in hand.




Phil Brown showed his character at Hull and Deepdale will be hoping he can revive the side.





Credit; here

Preston are bottom of the Championship after the half way mark in the season, having just amassed five wins and 19 points from their 24 games.

I've watched what was Ferguson's side on numerous occasions this season and it seems as though the side are distinctly lacking firstly confidence and secondly quality.

Brown can certainly give them confidence if he has the same effect he had when taking Hull City to the Premier League, and maybe half time team talks on the pitch will have a positive effect on his team, unlike what happened at Eastlands two seasons ago.

Part of the side's problem is that they aren't scoring goals.

North End have only scored 13 times at home in as many games, the third worst in the league and have failed to score on no less than 9 separate occasions.


Preston's defence has been shipping goals, despite having David Unsworth in the backroom staff.

Credit; here

Add to that a side who's defence is the worst in the league, having shipped 45 goals, and Phil Brown's task becomes obvious.

He has to get stuck in with the players, they need some inspiration which obviously wasn't coming from Ferguson Junior, and they need it fast.

It's been some time since Preston have failed to be challenging for at least the play-off's and, when you consider that they finished in 7th in 2006/07, you find it hard to believe that both Burnley and Blackpool, who were in League One in that season, have both reached the top flight before the Lancashire outfit.


Preston haven't had a manager with the character of Owen Coyle or Ian Holloway for ages.

Credit; Telegraph + BBC Sport.

It seems some contrast for the same side to be seven points adrift with an inferior goal difference, despite having a game in hand.

It will be interesting to see how Preston do tomorrow in their cup game against Nottingham Forest because they need to start winning games, something which Phil Brown will know, but you wonder whether a cup run would hinder their league form.

Sometimes it can have a good effect.

Another thing that Preston, and Brown, have to do quickly is act in their transfer market.

With Sir Alex Ferguson having recalled ALL of their loanees after his son's sacking and John Parkin having left the club, it seems vital that Brown finds some quality, even on loan deals, to give him a decent squad come the end of the window.

Not to forget that Preston have lost Richard Chaplow and Ross Wallace to Southampton and Burnley respectively since the end of last season, now Brown must find their replacements, and able replacements at that, because anyone who says otherwise is ridiculous.






Ross Wallace was one of Preston's better performers last season.






Credit; here

It's really disappointing that the crowds have been dwindling at Deepdale since the start of the season.

Ok, the football that the team is playing is largely awful but this is the time when clubs like Preston, who have already lost their historic National Football Museum, don't lose their future and that the fans pull together and support their team in an effort to get them to safety.

After all, if things work out, there is always next season.

What the fans, and players, need to accept now is that this season, across the leagues, there have been some shocks, with Chelsea, the Premier League Champions, sitting outside the Champions League places having won only once in their last nine in the league, and Aston Villa sitting in the relegation zone.

Established teams aren't living up to expectations and Brown needs to get this into the players heads because they can play football, they can win the crowds over, and they can stay up with some belief.

Can Preston stay up? Who should they try and bring in during the window? Please discuss below.