‘Would be an exceptional appointment’ – Preston North End set to name 43-year-old as Frankie McAvoy successor: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ryan Lowe is set to jump ship from League One side Plymouth Argyle to fill the vacant Preston North End hot-seat, as first reported by talkSPORT.

Local reports have backed up that claim, with the Lilywhites set to pay in the region of £250,000 to bring the 43-year-old to Deepdale.

PNE parted company with head coach Frankie McAvoy on Monday night with the Scot leaving them in 18th position in the Championship after taking over permanently from his former assistant Alex Neil back in May.

Lowe has Argyle sitting in fourth position in the third tier but would he be a good appointment for the Lancashire side? The FLW team have had their say.

George Dagless

I think it could work nicely.

Obviously, past success isn’t a guarantee for glory in the future but there are few young coaches in the lower tiers of the EFL that have the reputation, the potential and the CV that Lowe does currently.

He has achieved promotions with both Bury and Plymouth and leaves Argyle, despite recent form, in a very good position in League One up against sides that have far bigger budgets and resources at their disposal.

That financial factor, his playing style and his record in recent years all bodes well to try and get Preston North End going in the right direction once more and though it’ll need time I do think he will have a positive impact there, so I think it’s a very good appointment.

Toby Wilding

This does look as though it has the potential to be a good appointment for Preston.

So far this season, Preston have shown a decent amount of potential, without really managing to develop any momentum, which is obviously part of the reason they now find themselves in this situation.

But having previously won promotion from League Two with both Bury and Plymouth, before taking the latter to a League One promotion battle this season, Lowe is a manager who does seem to be able to get the best out of teams in challenging circumstances, especially when you consider what Bury were going through at that time.

As a result, you would expect Lowe to be someone who is able to help galvanise Preston again, and given he is clearly familiar with the North West, he ought to settle in well at Deepdale, meaning this certainly looks to be an appointment that makes sense for Preston.

Jordan Rushworth

This would be an exceptional appointment for Preston and to be honest, it is a little bit surprising that they could be able to attract him to Deepdale at this stage.

However, this is an appointment that show strong ambition from the Lilywhites and looks to be much more of a long-term one than Frankie McAvoy was.

Lowe has had nothing but success really in his managerial career to date and he has got his Plymouth Argyle side competing for automatic promotion in League One against clubs with far greater resources.

In many ways that is the sort of job he would have to do at Deepdale.

Preston have to be smart in the transfer market if they are to compete with Championship’s biggest clubs and for a while under Alex Neil they were able to do that and threaten a play-off finish.

You could see Lowe coming in and getting a tune out of Preston’s squad straight away and it should not be long before we see better results and performances from the Lilywhites.

This would be an appointment that fans could be excited about and there is no doubt it would be a coup to get him into the club.