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  1. Glenn Priestley seated on a chair indoors with a heavily bandaged lower leg resting on a second chair. A walking frame stands beside the chair. The room contains arcade-style gaming equipment and seating, with dark walls and coloured lights in the background.

  2. St Mary de Castro in Leicester with sign

  3. A crowd of people wearing high-visibility safety vests and hard hats gather outside a house transformed by BBC One's DIY SOS team. In the centre foreground, is Dan who has brown hair holding his mum, Julie's hand. He is smiling. On the right, a camera operator films the scene. Several people are wearing hard hats with signatures or handwritten markings, and hi-vis vests. Bright sunlight illuminates the group.

  4. Close-up of a parrot with a black beak and under-chin feathers, and green, turquoise and yellow feathers on the rest of its body.

  5. Alexander's task is significant but not insurmountable

    BBC View from the press box banner
    A glum looking Graham AlexanderShutterstock

    Ten games into the Championship season, the league table makes for grim reading for Preston North End and everyone connected with the club.

    Losing eight of those matches and conceding an average of two goals per game tells its own story.

    A change of manager after just seven games felt unavoidable and, on the evidence of the defeat by Birmingham, Graham Alexander has inherited one of the biggest challenges of his managerial career.

    It is important to remember this disappointing start to the season has followed an alarming decline during the second half of last term. North End went from looking like genuine promotion contenders to losing 11 of their final 20 league matches and finishing 14th.

    Put it all together and they have won only seven league games in 2026 while losing 19. Those numbers highlight why significant change was needed.

    I posed the question on BBC Radio Lancashire: What has changed so quickly?

    Initially, Harrison Armstrong's return to parent club Everton, coupled with goalkeeper Daniel Iversen's injury absence, were significant setbacks.

    Some supporters have suggested uncertainty surrounding a potential takeover has played a part but I am not convinced.

    History shows the football side of a club usually carries on regardless unless there are exceptional circumstances affecting day-to-day operations.

    It is true Preston relied heavily on loan players last season. Lewis Dobbin, Harrison Armstrong and, to a lesser extent, Daniel Jebbison all made valuable contributions.

    Alfie Devine also played a key role before making his move permanent for a club-record fee this summer.

    Devine, along with a number of his team-mates, has yet to replicate the levels shown during the first half of last season.

    That points to a squad currently lacking confidence, while also raising questions about whether enough quality has been added to replace what was lost.

    The game at Birmingham showcased two clubs at very different stages of their development.

    Birmingham have the look of a settled, well-coached side. They possess continuity throughout the team, appear balanced in every department and, based on this performance look capable of mounting a serious challenge for a top-eight finish.

    By contrast, North End are still searching for consistency. Only Devine and Iversen have remained ever-present, underlining the disruption and instability that have characterised their season so far.

    Alexander has had just two matches so, judging him on results alone at this stage would be unfair. He is still assessing his squad, identifying solutions and working out the best formula to stop the slide.

    The gap to safety stands at four points. With 108 points still available, there is no need to panic. What is required now is patience, belief and a rapid improvement in performances.

    The challenge is significant, but far from insurmountable.

  6. There is no magic wand - Alexander

    Alexander: 'An extremely difficult night'

    Preston North End have a lot of work ahead of them to put things right, says new head coach Graham Alexander.

    The Lilywhites were thrashed 4-0 at Birmingham in the Championship on Tuesday night and had midfielder Stan Mills sent off.

    "It was an extremely difficult night," said Alexander. "I thought we started the game well with some good attacking moments.

    "We concede a goal but I was reasonably content going in at half-time at 1-0 thinking we've got a right chance in the second-half but then we implode two minutes before half-time with the two goals."

    Preston are bottom of the Championship with only one win from their opening nine games and have managed just one point from their past five matches with Alexander replacing Paul Heckingbottom as boss at the end of last month.

    "None of them quit, we weren't good enough to get back into the game but 10 men makes it extremely difficult," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

    "But whatever we're feeling, in the second-half with that defiance to compete we now have to show it every single minute of every game and every day in training and I don't think we have been.

    "We know there's so much to improve, so much to work on and no-one has got a magic wand so we have to work."

    Listen to more Preston North End interviews and content on BBC Sounds.

    BBC Sounds banner on a black background

  7. Image shows the Georgian exterior or Preston City Hall, a grey stone building.

  8. Ian McKellen, an old man with a tweed hat looks to one side.

  9. Hayen gutted at conceding another late equaliser

    Nicky Hayen watches on from the sidelines and he has seen his Burnley side concede stoppage-time equalisers in their last two home gamesGetty Images

    Dejected Burnley boss Nicky Hayen

    Burnley boss Nicky Hayen spoke to BBC Radio Lancashire after the Clarets conceded a 96th-minute equaliser against Charlton Athletic in their 2-2 draw at Turf Moor.

    For a written selection of his quotes, click here.

    Hayen: 'It was a decent performance'

  10. Birmingham's August Priske celebrates his second goal with Jay Stansfield

  11. Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones celebrates their stoppage-time equaliser at Burnley

  12. Sign displaying the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) logo and name on a stone wall inside a public building with cream-coloured columns and a window in the background.

  13. A crowd of people wearing high-visibility safety vests and hard hats gather outside a house transformed by BBC One's DIY SOS team. In the centre foreground, is Dan who has brown hair holding his mum, Julie's hand. He is smiling. On the right, a camera operator films the scene. Several people are wearing hard hats with signatures or handwritten markings, and hi-vis vests. Bright sunlight illuminates the group.

  14. Blackpool win appeal against Honeyman suspension

    George Honeyman in an orange home Blackpool shirtShutterstock

    Saturday's red card was the first George Honeyman had been shown since being sent off at Cambridge for Millwall in August 2022

    Blackpool captain George Honeyman will be available for their next three games after the club won their appeal against the red card he was given in Saturday's defeat by Cambridge.

    The 32-year-old midfielder was sent off for violent conduct in the sixth minute of the League One fixture.

    However, the Football Association regulatory commission ruled that it was a case of wrongful dismissal and overturned the automatic three-match ban.

  15. Waste dumped at the Callerton Hill site. There is a large mound of shredded rubbish surrounding a concrete yard. A grey car is parked in the middle of it and there are trees bordering the site.

  16. Becky Brown standing in a large industrial workshop, wearing a blue checked shirt, with rows of machinery, workbenches and metal equipment visible in the background beneath skylights and overhead lights. She is smiling.

  17. Middle-aged man with greying brown hair and wearing a pale blue t-shirt stands outside a house with white walls

  18. Close-up of a parrot with a black beak and under-chin feathers, and green, turquoise and yellow feathers on the rest of its body.

  19. A red squirrel holds a nut in its hands. Its hands are held together and it is hunched over a branch in woodland. The squirrel has brown, grey and bright auburn coloured fur. Its ears perk high and it has beady black eyes.

  20. Close-up portrait of Julie Foster: she has shoulder-length, wavy red hair and blue eyes. Glasses rest on top of the head, and she is wearing a dark vest top.

  21. Pick of the stats: Birmingham City v Preston North End

    Birmingham City and Preston North End club badgesOpta

    Birmingham City will hope to continue their climb up the Championship table when they welcome bottom side Preston North End to St Andrew's on Tuesday night.

    Blues have won two of their past three games (D1), including a 1-0 win at West Brom in the West Midlands derby on Saturday, to move up to seventh.

    The Lilywhites have won just once all season (D1 L7) and new boss Graham Alexander is seeking his first win after losing 1-0 to Millwall in his first game in charge at the weekend.

    • Birmingham City have won each of their previous three league meetings with Preston, and could win four in a row for the very first time, with this their 101st clash.

    • Preston have lost both of their past two league visits to Birmingham City, last losing more in a row in March 1970 (4).

    • Birmingham have drawn all four of their Championship home games this season. The only sides to draw their first five at home in a season in the competition since it began in 2004 are both the Blues themselves in 2018-19 and Ipswich in 2018-19.

    • Preston are without a clean sheet in 14 away league games for the first time since November 2012 (also 14). They last went 15+ without one on the road in March 2011 (26).

    • Birmingham's Jay Stansfield has scored in three of his four league appearances against Preston, including two in two at home.

  22. Portrait of councillor Phil Riley with long grey hair and glasses, wearing a white shirt and a dark pinstriped jacket. He is standing in front of a blue backdrop with partial white lettering visible.

  23. Pick of the stats: Burnley v Charlton Athletic

    Burnley and Charlton Athletic club badgesOpta

    Burnley will hope to back up their first Championship win of the season when they welcome Charlton Athletic to Turf Moor on Tuesday night.

    The Clarets picked up their first league victory of the campaign in style at Vicarage Road on Saturday, thrashing Watford 4-0, but they still remain in the relegation zone.

    Since winning their opening three games of the season, the Addicks are now on a six-game winless streak (D4 L2) following a 1-1 draw with Bristol City at the weekend and have slipped from top to 12th on that run.

    • Burnley have won each of their past five league meetings with Charlton without conceding, with this their first since winning home (4-0) and away (3-0) in 2015-16.

    • Charlton have lost six of their previous seven league visits to Burnley, winning the other 1-0 in November 2012.

    • Burnley could become only the second side in English Football League/Premier League history to go 20+ consecutive home league matches without a win (currently 19 – D9 L10), after Sunderland (20 from Jan-Dec 2017) and Sheffield Wednesday (23 from Apr 2025-Apr 2026).

    • Since the start of last season, the only ever-present side to win fewer away games in the Championship than Charlton (5) are Watford (4).

    • Since the start of last season, Charlton have won three of their four Championship away games at sides newly relegated from the Premier League (D1), already winning 2-1 at West Ham this term.