Paul Heckingbottom urged to fix Preston North End "issue" away from Deepdale | OneFootball

North End's 2024-25 season is all but over with 11 games to go, and a problem has been identified when it comes to consistency

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…

It would have been easy for Preston North End's 2024-25 season to unravel after just a couple of games, but the appointment of Paul Heckingbottom has been a solid one from the Lilywhites hierarchy.

Not many would have expected previous boss Ryan Lowe to walk away from Deepdale having managed just one match of the campaign, but that is exactly what happened after a 2-0 loss to Sheffield United.

Further chaos ensued a week later as caretaker boss Mike Marsh quit the club following a 3-0 loss to Swansea City, and it was then where PNE moved quickly to bring Heckingbottom to Deepdale, who found himself back in work less than a year after leaving Sheffield United.

Under Heckingbottom, North End have made some noticeable improvements, although league position-wise they are currently down on last season, where they finished 10th under Lowe and are now 15th with the ex-Blades boss at the helm.

Preston North End's biggest issue under Paul Heckingbottom revealed

Of course, not everything is perfect at Deepdale under Heckingbottom, but the general consensus is that he will need to be given a summer transfer window to build the squad how he sees fit.

One source of frustration though, as outlined by FLW's PNE fan pundit Darren Watson, is that the club's away form is nowhere near as good as their home results in the league.

In Championship action, PNE have been defeated just once under Heckingbottom at home, with that coming in a 3-1 loss to Bristol City back in November - compare that to results on the road though and it is a different story, with the Lilywhites winning just three times and losing a further eight games.

"Our club's biggest issue at the minute is consistency," Darren told FLW.

"Under Paul Heckingbottom, we've not been beaten at home since November, which is a really good stat to have. He's come in and made the defence strong at home, and has made Deepdale a fortress at times, but our away form is just so inconsistent.

"We can go away and beat Norwich, but then lose on the road the week after. I'd like us to show some more consistency - being good at home but also having something about us to go and beat teams away as well - I would like our form on the road to be a bit better than it is at this current moment."

Preston North End away results unlikely to be fixed anytime soon amid tough schedule

Realistically, North End's season is all-but over - they have too much to do to climb into the play-off battle, whilst there looks to be too many teams below them when it comes to the relegation battle.

That means soon, preparations will be underway for the 2025-26 season, which will no doubt excite Heckingbottom as he can finally get to work with shaping the squad he wants.

For now though, expect PNE's away struggles to continue. Back-to-back away clashes with Sheffield United and Sunderland are coming up, whilst they still have to head to Elland Road to face Leeds United.

Losing midfielders to injury will not be helping either - Mads Frokjaer and Ben Whiteman have been out, and there's a chance that Ali McCann and Stefan Thordardson will be joining the pair on the treatment table, albeit Whiteman is closing in on a return to action.