Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom said he wanted to put "a bomb under all of this" after QPR's latest win at Deepdale on Good Friday, but the bookies have PNE as one of the relegation favourites and as Josh McLoughlin (@josh_mcloughlin) says it's been more of a party popper so far this summer.

How was last season for Preston?

We probably deserved to go down and after Ryan Lowe walked following the opening game of the season it shouldn’t have been a surprise. We’ve gradually got worse over the last couple of seasons and been too reliant on loan players. Kaine Kesler Hayden was the pick of the bunch last time. Paul Heckingbottom steadied the ship at first but the football was dreadful and our usual capitulation around the end of the season was worse than ever. One win in 15 for a team whose confidence was rock bottom.

PNE in the league last season…
Preston 0-2 Sheff Utd Arblaster 12, Hamer 55
Swansea 3-0 Preston Grimes pen 40, Abdulai 61, Vipotnik 83
Preston 1-0 Luton Keane 39
Oxford 3-1 Preston Harris 20, Goodrham 53, Leigh 71 – Riis 3
Boro 1-1 Preston Conway 16 – Frokjaer-Hensen 43
Preston 0-0 Blackburn
Millwall 3-1 Preston Honeyman 24, Esse 38, Langstaff 47 – Storey 87
Preston 3-0 Watford Osmajic 53, 65, McCann 75
Burnley 0-0 Preston
Preston 1-0 Coventry Riis 72
Preston 2-2 Norwich Greenwood pen 6, Holmes 12 – Sainz 45, Duffy 61
Plymouth 3-3 Preston Issaka 55, Gray 82, Whittaker 90 – Greenwood 16, Frokjaer-Jensen 45, Potts 48
Preston 1-3 Bristol City Greenwood 48 – Hirakawa 6, Wells 51, Bird 81
Preston 0-0 Sunderland
Portsmouth 3-1 Preston Murphy 36, Ogilvie 45, Bishop pen 89 – Riis 50
Preston 1-1 Derby Greenwood 23 – Yates 29
Stoke 0-0 Preston
Preston 1-1 West Brom Riis 55 – Grant 13
Sheff Wed 1-1 Preston Smith 76 – Riis 14
Cardiff 0-2 Preston Chambers og 48, Osmajic 90
Preston 1-1 Leeds Potts 23 – Whatmough og 90
QPR 2-1 Preston Kolli 50, Dunne 89 – Osmajic 21
Preston 1-0 Hull Potts 60
Preston 3-1 Sheff Wed Riis 29, 79, Greenwood pen 64 – Windass 59
West Brom 3-1 Preston Maja 18, 40, Styles 35 – Ledson 70
Preston 1-1 Oxford Keane 69 – Rodrigues 21
Luton 0-0 Preston
Watford 1-2 Preston Vata 90 – Osmajic 17, 56
Preston 2-1 Boro Thordarson 28, Riis 78 – Burgzorg 52
Blackburn 2-1 Preston Gueye 39, Cantwell pen 78 – Potts 90
Norwich 0-1 Preston Osmajic 5
Preston 0-0 Burnley
Preston 1-1 Millwall Riis 47 – Ivanovic 40
Coventry 2-1 Preston Rudoni 30, Thomas 37 – Keane 82
Preston 0-0 Swansea
Sheff Utd 1-0 Preston Campbell 56
Sunderland 1-1 Preston Mundle 86 – Riis 65
Preston 2-1 Pompey Porteous 76, Thordarson 87 – Bishop 83
Derby 2-0 Preston Forsyth 48, Yates 52
Preston 1-1 Stoke Kesler-Hayden 10 – Baker pen 75
Preston 2-2 Cardiff Osmajic 19, Thordarson 72 – Alves 52, Meite 90
Leeds 2-1 Preston Solomon 4, Bogle 13 – Kesler-Hayden 6
Preston 1-2 QPR Lindsay 45 – Frey 80, Andersen 90
Hull 2-1 Preston Gelhardt pen 50, pen 67 – Gibson 34
Preston 1-2 Plymouth Riis 90 – Bundu 14, Wright 75
Bristol City 2-2 Preston McCrorie 69, 74 – Riis 28, Osmajic 60

What do we make of Paul Heckingbottom?

Came in at an unusual time last season and wasn’t given the best deck of cards. Initial signing of Josh Bowler seemed pointless as we didn’t play with wingers. When performances were ok we failed to take our chances and drew too many. If we were anything less than average we would be comfortably beaten. Heckingbottom has had a very mixed managerial career and this will be one of his toughest challenges. He doesn’t have much transfer budget to invest in the team and I think we could lose our first four matches and predictably he would come under pressure from the fans.

After our late winner at yours over Easter the manager said he wanted to "put a bomb under all of this" over the summer, has that been achieved?

That quote probably smashed the confidence of the team and it wasn’t a surprise that dreadful form followed. A lot of that squad still remain, whilst some deadwood has been cleared out. However, he did then hand contract extensions to plenty of players who you may have thought it was time to part ways - Robbie Brady, Andrew Hughes and Liam Lindsay for example. Other players such as Ben Whiteman and Jordan Storey have been here a while and don’t look like progressing this club any further. It’s been more of a party popper than a bomb effect.

What business has been done, what still needs to be done?

We’ve signed nine players but you can only say two of them are exciting and will have a decent resale value. They come in the shape of Thierry Small and Odel Offiah. Small impressed against us in the FA Cup for Charlton Athletic and we are fortunate he has chosen Preston as the next stage in his career. Offiah arrives from Brighton Hove and Albion after a loan spell with our neighbours Blackpool.

Daniel Iversen should be an improvement on Freddie Woodman and Jack Walton has arrived to give Iversen some competition as well. Michael Smith and Pol Valentin are cheap back up players signed following the mess at Sheffield Wednesday. Jordan Thompson came in from Stoke City to replace Ryan Ledson but the extent of his injury was misjudged and he looks set to miss the first few months of the season. Great work.

Nomad Andrija Vuckcevic seems to have been signed just to keep his fellow Montenegrin Milutin Osmajic happy whilst Daniel Jebbison looks set for a last chance saloon at this level. After a shocking spell with Watford last season he links up with Heckingbottom once again, joining on loan from Bournemouth.

There is still a lot of work to do. There is zero creativity in this team. Sam Greenwood and Duane Holmes need to be replaced from last season and another striker has to be on the list as well.

Ins >>> Odeluga Offiah, 22, RB, Brighton, £1.5m >>> Daniel Iversen, 27, GK, Leicester, Free >>> Thierry Small, 20, LB, Charlton, Free >>> Jordan Thompson, 28, CM, Stoke, Free >>> Andrija Vukcevic, 28, LB, Juarez, Free >>> Pol Valentin, 28, RB, Sheff Wed, Free >>> Michael Smith, 33, CF, Sheff Wed, Free >>> Jack Walton, 27, GK, Luton, Undisclosed >>> Daniel Jebbison, 21, CF, Bournemouth, Loan

Outs >>> Emil Riis, 27, CF, Bristol City, Free >>> Freddie Woodman, 28, GK, Liverpool, Free >>> Ryan Ledson, 27, CM, Huddersfield, Free >>> Kian Best, 19, LB, Chelsea, Free >>> Kian Taylor, 20, CM, Morton, Free >>> Ched Evans, 36, CF, Fleetwood, Free >>> Jack Whatmough, 28, CB, Huddersfield, Undisclosed >>> Layton Stewart, 22, CF, FC Thun, Undisclosed >>> Kaedyn Kamara, 19, CM, Cork, Loan >>> Patrick Bauer, 32, CB, Released

Where is the team strong, and where are its weak spots?

It’s really hard to say where the team is strong. Most areas have weaknesses. Probably the goalkeeping department is now the best it’s been for a few years with two solid keepers permanently on the books. It’s weak in the attacking midfielder area with only Mads Frokjaer fitting into that category. Central midfield looks lightweight as well with only Ali McCann, Stefan Thordarson and Ben Whiteman fit at the moment.

How do you see this season going?

This season will be a big struggle. Sheffield Wednesday looks certs for relegation which ties up one spot. Hull City are doing their best to follow suit but could still battle to safety. It’s then tough to find another team weaker than ourselves. Oxford United may seem the likely candidate but Gary Rowett is an astute manager at this level. We’ve got a very tough start on paper, with Leicester City and Ipswich Town the first two visitors to Deepdale after our first game with Queens Park Rangers, before a trip to Portsmouth. This could be the year we fall through the trap door. There’s only so long you can keep on treading water at this level before you sink. We’ve been regressing for years. Hopefully others teams have a shocker though and we’ll finish 21st.

Links >>> Preston Official Website >>> Lancashire Telegraph — Local Press >>> From The Finney — Blog >>> Deepdale Digest — Blog >>> PNE Online — Forum

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

stowmarketrange added 16:14 - Aug 7 We seem to have been treading water for 10 seasons and haven’t fallen through the trapdoor yet.We’ve been pretty close though at times.
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TacticalR added 12:18 - Aug 9 Thanks to Josh. It's puzzling what's happened to Preston - they always seemed to be the classic safe mid-table Championship team. There's a lot of change in the division with more money coming in from the top and the button, and maybe the days of just sitting in the middle of the table are over.
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