Preston lost 1-0 at home to Luton on Saturday to extend their run of form to just three wins from their last 17 games; North End 16th in Championship, nine points above drop zone; Neil exits after nearly four years at Deepdale; Alan Browne says players "let him down"
Sunday 21 March 2021 17:26, UK
Alex Neil has left Preston a day after their 1-0 home defeat to Luton.
North End's loss was their third in as many games and extended a run of form that has seen them record just three victories in their last 17 fixtures in all competitions.
Neil leaves with Preston 16th in the Championship, nine points above the relegation zone - although 22nd-placed Rotherham have up to four games in hand on the teams above them.
The 39-year-old took charge at Deepdale in July 2017 and led Preston to a seventh-place finish in the Championship at the end of his first season in charge.
They could only achieve 14th spot in the 2018/19 season before Neil guided them to ninth last term.
A statement released on the club's website confirmed that Frankie McAvoy will take up the position of interim head coach and work with Steve Thompson, Mike Pollitt and Paul Gallagher in taking the team for the remaining eight games of the season.
After the defeat to Luton, Neil admitted Preston's struggles were one of the most difficult moments of his management career.
"I won't lie, it's probably as difficult as it's ever been for me. I've always been fighting middle to top of the table, it's tough," he said.
"People talk about knowing your best team and I used to get criticised for having my best team and playing it more often than people thought I should have.
"If I'm being brutally honest, at the moment I haven't got a scooby-doo what the best team is. Because what happens is, what I get from one week to the next, God knows.
"Your best team generally, you have reliability in it. You know what you are getting week, in week out. At the moment, we are nowhere near that."
Midfielder Alan Browne, currently on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, admitted the players had let Neil down.
Asked about the news at an Ireland press conference on Sunday afternoon, Browne said: "I was pretty gutted earlier. He has been fantastic for me and my career, a lot of the lads at Preston as well.
"He did a fantastic job and us as players, ultimately we let him down as he's not the one going out on the pitch, but he's the one taking the criticism, so it's gutting for me.
"But I am here in the camp now and need to put all my focus on that and worry about that when I get back to my club."
