"A safe choice" - Claim made as Preston North End close in on Paul Heckingbottom | OneFootball

FLW's fan pundit reacts to the news that Paul Heckingbottom is in advanced talks at Deepdale

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Former Sheffield United and Barnsley manager Paul Heckingbottom is reportedly the frontrunner in the race to become Preston North End's new manager.

The Lancashire Evening Post reported on Sunday that ex-Lilywhites player Brian Barry-Murphy, more recently Manchester City academy manager, had applied for the job after interim manager Mike Marsh left his role following the Lilywhites' 3-0 loss to Swansea City on Saturday.

But by Monday afternoon, Sky Sports News revealed that Heckingbottom was in advanced talks to take up the vacancy at Deepdale, while supporters will hope he can be the man to turn around the Lilywhites' poor form of late.

The Lancashire side have lost both of their opening Championship games, either side of a 2-0 EFL Cup victory over Sunderland, while former boss Ryan Lowe departed via mutual consent last Monday.

Football League World's Preston fan pundit, Will Atherton shared his thoughts as Heckingbottom looks to be the man to replace Lowe at the Lancashire club.

Lilywhites fan pundit issues response to Heckingbottom news

Speaking to FLW, Will said: "I think that Heckingbottom is a safe choice for Preston here.

"He's a good manager, he's experienced, he's been at a number of different clubs with varying levels of success.

"He did well at Barnsley, he didn't do well at Leeds, he did very well at Sheffield United, obviously what he's best known for is taking Sheffield United up to the Premier League, doing a good job when there were lots of rumours of there being lots of issues behind the scenes.

"He plays 3-5-2, or 5-3-2, whichever way you want to look at it, which is the same system that Preston played with under Ryan Lowe.

"I think a lot of Preston fans have expressed a desire to see maybe a shift towards a formation that has four at the back, rather than five at the back.

"I don't think we'd see this under Heckingbottom, but I don't necessarily think that that's a bad thing.

"I think that our squad is best suited to playing with five at the back, we've got the players to do it.

"I don't think we've got the players suited to playing left-back and right-back.

"We don't even have a right-back at the club, an out-and-out right-back at the moment.

"So Heckingbottom is a solid option, he's a safe option, and I think he'd stabilise the club for sure, which is probably what we need at the moment.

"To any Preston fans saying 'Is he going to take us up?'

"I don't think we even need to be worrying about that at the moment.

"Really the focus now is to get a manager in, stabilise the club, get some points on the board and take it from there, and then you get to January, that's when you start assessing where you're at in the league.

"But if it continues as we are, there's nothing to say that we couldn't be pulled into a relegation scrap, which nobody wants.

"As to Brian Barry-Murphy, he's different to Heckingbottom in that he's relatively inexperienced, in terms of managing senior football.

"He managed Rochdale from 2019 to 2021, where he recorded a win percentage of 31.9%, which is not amazing.

"He's done very, very well at Manchester City, where he was coach of the Under-21s and Under-23s team.

"He's a name which is familiar to Preston fans because he played with us in the early 2000s, he made, I believe it was 30 odd appearances.

"I think that Barry-Murphy is an exciting option.

"He plays exciting football, emphasising on attack, but at the moment in time I think we need stability, we need experience and Heckingbottom brings that.

"So I think Heckingbottom is the better out of the two."

Preston should look to get a new manager in before Luton clash

In their next fixture on Saturday, the Lilywhites take on Luton Town, in what could be their third consecutive game in all competitions without a permanent manager, unless an appointment is made fairly imminently.

The Hatters also have their own point to prove, as they are yet to win a game following relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season, so facing Rob Edwards' men without a new manager at the helm could be a dangerous prospect for the Deepdale side.

The Hatters will view their upcoming trip to Lancashire as a massive opportunity to pick up their first victory of the season, a scenario the Lilywhites will likely struggle to prevent, unless a replacement for Lowe is found in the coming days.

Given the latest developments in the managerial race at the Lancashire club, the Deepdale faithful may now be hoping that Heckingbottom is in the dugout come Saturday, as he won promotion to the Premier League with Sheffield United just two seasons ago.