Preston boss Irvine plans for busy summer

4:53pm Thursday 1st May 2008

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Preston manager Alan Irvine says he will not be making wholesale changes to his squad as he attempts to build on the team's excellent form in 2008.

Irvine expects that the majority of improvements made to his squad over the summer will be through preparation on the training ground rather than in the transfer market.

He said: "There is a lot of hard work to be done over the summer, we will train really hard in pre-season, and we will do a lot of work that will hopefully give us alternatives, different shapes, different systems, and different styles of play, but you need time to do that."

He admits he will be hoping to add a few new players to his squad but suggested that the club's budget dictates that he will be shopping in the bargain basement rather than splashing the cash.

"I think there will be a little bit (to spend), but I don't think we will be challenging the big spenders. It's something that I knew when I came here, but I am not expecting wholesale changes.

"We will hopefully make a couple of improvements to the squad; we don't have a massive budget both in terms of wages and transfer fees.

"We can't compete with many of the teams in the Championship so we have to do it another way, we have to be clever with how we spend our money and how we do our work on the training ground."

Irvine spent prudently in the January transfer window to bring in four players - three of whom are aged 23 or under- for a combined total of just £1.6 million.

Richard Chaplow and Chris Brown were out of favour at their previous clubs, West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City, but both have made vital contributions since moving to Deepdale.

Preston have a relatively small squad in comparison with other Championship sides and it is likely that there will be more players arriving than are allowed to leave as Irvine looks to boost his squad.

Midfielder Lewis Neal had his contract at Deepdale extended for a further 12 months, joining Callum Davidson and Joe Anyinsah whose contracts had been extended for a further year earlier in the season.

On Saturday North End will be able to again test their credentials as the form team of 2008 in the final game of the season at another of the Championship's top sides, fourth place Bristol City.