Former Norwich City coach Frankie McAvoy will be given the chance to impress by Preston, with the interim manager's audition as Alex Neil's potential replacement to start against the Canaries.
That's according to former Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale - who represents North End owner Trevor Hemmings - following Neil's exit after almost four years at Deepdale.
McAvoy was academy director at Hamilton Academical, where he worked with Neil for over 10 years and was the former Barnsley midfielder's assistant after becoming player-manager in his early 30s.
So when Norwich made the surprise decision to appoint the Accies boss as Neil Adams' replacement in January 2015, McAvoy soon followed.
Mike Phelan moved on but Gary Holt remained as part of the new coaching staff, with goalkeeper coach Dean Kiely joining a couple of months later, and the duo's arrival sparked a surge in form which carried City all the way to the Premier League via a glorious play-off final triumph at Wembley.
After top-flight relegation in 2016, Neil was dismissed in March 2017 with play-off hopes all but over in the Championship. McAvoy remained as part of interim manager Alan Irvine's coaching staff and initially remained in Norfolk following sporting director Stuart Webber's appointment of Daniel Farke as head coach.
But within a fortnight of Neil arriving as Preston boss in July 2017, McAvoy was on his way to Lancashire, going on to help his fellow Scot to three consecutive mid-table finishes in the Championship.
However, an eighth defeat in 12 games left 16th-placed North End looking nervously at the relegation battle and the former Norwich manager departed after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Luton.
McAvoy, 53, hasn't followed though and instead has been put in charge of the remaining eight games of the campaign, working with coaches Steve Thompson, Mike Pollitt and Paul Gallagher on an interim basis.
Long-serving Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth, a former Preston player, is the favourite with the bookies for the vacancy but Ridsdale says McAvoy can force his way into consideration - starting with the visit of leaders Norwich on Good Friday.
"Frankie and the coaching team will take things on for the rest of the season," the senior advisor told the Lancashire Evening Post.
"I would like to think that will work. You look at Brentford who have promoted from within and have done very well.
"We don't want a revolution here. Frankie will be given the chance to get the job longer-term.
"We need some points and once we've got those, we can breathe and see what we want to do."
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