Preston North End

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Preston’s financial results are so positive the club will be able to invest in the playing squad in January, chairman Craig Hemmings has hinted.

Deepdale PNE Holdings Limited, the club’s parent company, published its annual results for the financial year to 30 June on Monday.

Highlights included:

• Turnover increasing from £15.6m to a record £16.9m. The third year in a row of record turnover.

• The club's loss after tax was £9.9m, a £2.3m improvement year-on-year.

• The club has seen trading improvements across all of its income streams – season cards and matchday ticket sales, plus all commercial and replica kit sales.

• Average home attendance in 2023-24 reached a new high of 16,714 - the highest average attendance at Deepdale in 60 years.

• On Boxing Day 2023 the club enjoyed the highest league crowd at Deepdale since the mid-1970s of 21,816, for a home victory against Leeds United.

• In June the club’s owners converted £50m of outstanding debt/loans into equity, strengthening the club’s balance sheet.

Hemmings told the Lilywhites website, external: “While ultimately the performance on the pitch is paramount to the club’s ambitions, success off the pitch has a direct effect on the opportunities we will have to improve the playing squad.

“To see the club achieve its highest ever revenue is very encouraging. This improved financial performance helps to create the much-needed headroom to further invest in the club’s facilities and squad."

He added: "Historically we had a great deal of success buying and selling players prior to the Covid pandemic and it remains our goal to repeat this philosophy as and when opportunities arise."

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It is one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the football calendar as Premier League and Championship clubs join the FA Cup action from round three.

The draw will take place on Monday, 2 December from 19:00 GMT and can be watched live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

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Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom says he can adapt their current squad to help their position in the Championship.

Heckingbottom inherited the vast majority of his squad following former boss Ryan Lowe's sacking, having arrived at the club on 20 August, just 10 days before the summer window closed.

Josh Bowler is the only player signed on Heckingbottom's watch with the winger arriving on loan from Nottingham Forest on deadline day.

Having said he is unsure over what business the club can do, contingent on how well they perform in December first, Heckingbottom also admitted that new additions might boost the squad he currently has available.

"These are players that I know, I've worked with a couple of them. I've got to know them, I like how they train and how they've responded," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"But as always you want to help them. And bringing in new players sometimes helps the ones who are already here. If we can do that, that would be great."

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Preston North End head coach Paul Heckingbottom says he is not concerned with his side's league position despite sitting just one point above the Championship relegation zone.

North End currently occupy 20th and are on a run of seven league matches without a win but the former Sheffield United and Leeds boss is satisfied with his team's performances in recent weeks.

"Listen, its not nice. I’m not concerned by the league position, I’m concerned about us not creating the wins," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"I think we’re fourth in the table for chances conceded so we’ve been limiting chances to teams but at the moment we keep getting punished.

"Our problem at the minute is when we’ve been the better team, we’ve tended to draw games, we’ve not won enough of them and that puts pressure on you."

North End conceded to Jerry Yates' 29th minute equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Derby County on Saturday, the Rams' only shot on target in the game.

Heckingbottom takes his side to Stoke City on Tuesday night who are currently unbeaten in their last four games.

"The fans are sharing the frustrations the same as us but the margins are so fine," he added.

"If we want to win the game, we’ve got to be good with the ball. I think if we are then we can pose them problems.

"However, if we neglect the bit without the ball, and don't out compete them, well, its always going to be a difficult game."

The 47-year-old remained coy on whether he will be given money to spend in the upcoming January transfer window, however.

"Hopefully. Transfer windows always provide an opportunity to change things but we might have to try really hard, we’ll have to wait and see," he added.

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Stoke City have lost just one of their last nine games (W3 D5) following a 1-1 draw at QPR on Saturday and are six points off the play-off spots ahead of Tuesday night's clash with Preston North End.

The Lilywhites drew 1-1 at Derby at the weekend and are winless in their last six (D4 L2). Paul Heckingbottom's side are also yet to win away from home this season.

• Stoke City are looking to win consecutive league games against Preston for the first time since a run of four between 1992 and 1998.

• The away team has won the last five league matches between Stoke and Preston and are unbeaten in the last nine meetings between the sides (W7 D2).

• Stoke are unbeaten in their last six league games on home soil (W2 D3); the Potters last enjoyed a longer run in October 2021 (6 games – W5 D1).

• Preston are winless in their last 12 league games on the road (D4 L8), conceding exactly three goals in seven of their last 10 such games.

• Preston's Brad Potts has scored in two of his four visits to the bet365 Stadium in the EFL, netting in January 2019 and January 2022.

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Preston North End head coach Paul Heckingbottom felt let down by Milutin Osmajic following the Montenegrin's eight-match ban for biting an opponent.

The former Sheffield United boss welcomes back the 25-year-old forward for Preston's Championship game at home to Derby County on Saturday but accepts he has been left disappointed by the circumstances leading to Osmajic's absence.

Osmajic received the lengthy punishment by the FA for biting Blackburn Rovers' Owen Beck in September's Lancashire derby. He was also fined £15,000.

"He knows he’s let us down, let himself down, let me down, let the team down, let the fans down," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"Listen, people make mistakes but why we feel let down, when we’re looking at our performances over the piece, and the chances we’ve been creating, I want to make sure he realises that he could have been scoring goals.

"People could have been saying some great things about him - so he knows he’s let himself down in that respect and also from our point of view we’re missing the goals and the points".

Osmajic scored twice in a 3-0 home victory over Watford last month, his final appearance before his ban started and over the period without him, North End have found the target just eight times and won just once, in all competitions.

"Its been a big loss because I think he responded really well when he came through the door, we were really pleased with him, and hopefully we can pick up where we left off," Heckingbottom added.

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Preston are looking to end a run of five Championship games without a win (D3 L2) when they welcome Derby to Deepdale on Saturday afternoon.

The Rams have lost just once in their last seven (W2 D4) but have struggled away from Pride Park. However, they did pick up their first win on the road at Coventry in their last away game.

• Preston North End have won just two of their last 18 league games against Derby County (D5 L11), failing to score in eight of their last 10 matches against the Rams.

• Derby County have lost just one of their last nine away league games against Preston North End (W5 D3) despite failing to score on three of their last four visits to Deepdale.

• Since the start of April, only Coventry City (13) have lost more Championship matches than Preston North End (12).

• Derby manager Paul Warne ended a 17-game winless away run in the Championship with a 2-1 win over Coventry in their last away game. Warne last won consecutive Championship away games in March 2021 with Rotherham United.

• Derby County's Ebou Adams has made 60 tackles in the Championship this season, six more than any other player.

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Preston North End's Ali McCann helped Northern Ireland secure promotion to League B of the Nations League after winning Group C3.

McCann played the whole game in central midfield in a 2-0 win at home to Belarus and was substituted after 76 minutes of the 2-2 draw in Luxembourg.

His Lilywhites team-mate Stefan Teitur Thordarson also played twice for Iceland as they missed out on a promotion play-off spot in Group B4.

Thordarson played 68 minutes in midfield in their 2-0 win in Montenegro on Saturday and came on at half-time in a 4-1 defeat in Wales on Tuesday night.

Victory for Iceland in Cardiff would have seen them finish in second place and enter the play-offs for promotion to League A.

They will instead now face a play-off in March next year to determine whether they remain in League B or are relegated to League C.

Preston are 20th in the Championship and welcome Derby County to Deepdale on Saturday afternoon as they look to end a run of five games without a win.

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Two Preston North End players will be on international duty this weekend and for Ali McCann in particular there is a lot at stake.

The midfielder is part of the Northern Ireland squad who are top of their Nations League group in League C. Victories over Belarus and Luxembourg would guarantee promotion to League B.

Stefan Teitur Thordarson is away with Iceland who need just one point from their trip to Montenegro to be assured of avoiding automatic relegation from League B.

Forward Milutin Osmajic was left out of the Montenegro squad but warmed-up for his return from an eight match ban for biting an opponent by scoring five goals in a reserve team match this week.

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Preston North End striker Milutin Osmajic scored five goals for the reserve team in an 8-4 victory over Wigan Athletic as he nears a first-team return.

Osmajic has missed the past eight games after being banned by the FA for biting Blackburn’s Owen Beck in the Lancashire derby in September. He was also fined £15,000.

He is eligible to return in Preston’s Championship game against Derby County at Deepdale on Saturday, 23 November, after the international break.

North End were 1-0 down to Wigan Athletic in their Central League Cup game on Wednesday afternoon before the 25-year-old took over, firing a first-half hat-trick to turn the tie around.

The Montenegro international played all 90 minutes and added two more with Theo Mawene, Layton Stewart and Kian Taylor also on target in the victory.

Osmajic has scored five goals in 11 appearances for Paul Heckingbottom's side this season.