Preston boss Ryan Lowe wants assurances about the club's ambition next season after they saw their play-off hopes extinguished at the weekend. Sunderland will head to Deepdale on Monday knowing they still have a chance of finishing in the top six if they beat the Lancashire outfit on the last day of the Championship season - albeit they also need help from elsewhere - but Preston's chances died with a 4-1 defeat at already-promoted Sheffield United leaving them with just a single point from their last four games.
In the wake of that defeat at Bramall Lane, Lowe said he planned to hold talks with boardroom kingpin Peter Ridsdale, who acts as advisor to the club's owner Trevor Hemmings. But he also appeared to keep his own options open, saying 'I need to go and reflect on what I want to do'.
"Mentality is something I will have to look at," Lowe told LancsLive, following the Sheffield United game. "Because, mentality of teams that get promoted and teams that get into the play-offs are far superior.
READ MORE: Sunderland's play-off permutations - and how tonight's Blackburn vs Luton clash could change things
"I am not even considering next season at this moment in time. I need to go and reflect what I want to do also, because as I've said, I want people who are going to follow suit.
"And, I will have to sit down and discuss that with Peter to see where we go I don't just want to be a good team in the Championship; I want to be a very good team.
"I think that with the way our lads are coached and the way we work, we should be a very good team. We have just fallen short a little bit.
"I'll have to sit down with Peter to discuss what I want to do going forward and what we can do, all together, going forward. I don't want to be a mediocre Championship manager, as I've said. Is someone going to turn up with £20m quid and give us it? I don't think so.
"But, the fact is that I am backed totally by Craig [Hemmings, Preston chairman and son of the owner] and Peter, 100 percent. I have been backed since I walked through the door - it is not about that.
"It's about ambition. And I've got an ambition and a drive.
"I want to take the club and fans on a journey, but people have got to follow suit. So, whether that's players - the fact is that the players have to realise you get opportunities to keep going, to get to where you want to get to.
"Sheffield United have been out of the Premier League for a couple of years. They are back there and congratulations, I am made up for them - but I want that to be us.
"So, that is what I need to look at. I am trying my hardest to take it where it needs to get to and sometimes, my hardest might not be good enough unfortunately - because of what we have. But, the fact is I am trying.
"There's progress, but I want a bit more progress. I want to be fighting for play-offs every single year and getting out of the division.
"We are just lacking a bit of quality in certain areas and we need to find it, to make us better. I am not questioning my players, but I need players that it means a lot to - not just: 'I am a Championship player and that's it, if I survive for seven, eight, nine years then that's fine'.
"I don't want that. I want players who've got ambition to drive, keep going and the mentality to do that.
"We need to get a plan and a vision for where we want to go. You cannot just go 12 months by 12 months and expect miracles to happen, because it doesn't happen like that.
"You've got to have a plan and a structure and that's what we'll be looking to get."
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