Preston's on-loan striker Paul Gallagher has given his strongest indication yet that he wants to stay at Deepdale for the remainder of the season. The Blackburn man is due to return to Ewood Park after New Year's Day and with no decision being made as to his short-term future it's still unclear as to whether he will be allowed to remain a Lilywhite.
Pne.com got an exclusive chat with the striker ahead of the big Boxing Day clash with Scunthorpe.
Gally, back in the first team and you look to be enjoying your football.
Yes, it's good to be back playing and playing in a position that I like to play. We are getting results now, everyone is happy and everyone believes that we can get out of this.
That belief and confidence plays a major part in getting North End out of their current predicament.
It's a massive thing, if you've no confidence or belief then you won't go far. If you've got it in abundance, like I think this squad has, then you can see that with the results we are putting together.
For you on a personal level you are coming into form at the right time.
You might say the right time, it could be the wrong time, I could be going back. Hopefully it is the right time and I can stay here and play more football but wherever I go hopefully I can keep playing more football, that's all I want to do and the manager here has given me the chance to do that in a position that I like playing.
That's the only worry, it's out of your hands and also out of the Gaffer's hands.
The Gaffer's spoken to me about it and said that he's tried to get hold of Mark Hughes but he's had no reply. I don't know what is happening, all I know is that I'm going back to Blackburn on the 1st of January. Hopefully they can agree something and you never know, I could end up back here.
You can understand why they might not want you to come back to Deepdale, at the start you weren't playing too many games.
They might think that they sent me here and I didn't play as many games as I would have liked. But as the new manager has come in he has got his new plans and at the moment I am in his plans and that might be a thing that Blackburn look at, if they see that I am playing week-in-week-out and playing in a position that I like playing in and getting more experience.
If they asked you for the decision what would it be?
I'd like to stay and play. I've not played as much football as I would have liked to in the last few years and at the moment everything is going well, my form has come back and I've started to play well and playing the full 90 minutes is what I've come to do and I've done that over the last few weeks.
You've enjoyed playing with Pat and you've sparked up another relationship with Neil Mellor.
They are both good strikers. We've got Pat who is powerful and has got great speed and when I'm playing the hole I can put him through and then you've got Mells who has got a good footballing brain, he can finish and he is an allround player. It doesn't matter who I play with we've got a lot of good strikers, even the ones I haven't mentioned, they're good strikers as well. It's just the way the confidence is going in the team, we all want to play now.
Southampton was quite an amazing experience with everything that went on surrounding the game?
It was a funny weekend really, the flight was mad and they say that teams that usually have things like that happen to them usually win so I think we should do it more often! To nick a goal in the 90th minute is a great way to win a game, we got stuck in, we showed how resilient we are. We don't leak as many goals now, we are solid as a team and we have got that belief that we can nick a goal at the end and we showed that with a good finish by Louey.
Two home games now and it's important that we pick up points against teams who are in and around us.
We've won the last three games out of four and I think we were unlucky against Blackpool, we should have really got something out of that game. We've got two home games and these are the games that we should win, hopefully we can get the crowd on our side and take six points from these next two games.
You played in that game at Scunthorpe earlier in the season and we definitely felt we should have got something out of that game so we'll definitely be up for the one on Boxing Day.
Definitely. We played really well in that game and it was a bit unfortunate that we didn't win the game, even when we went down to 10 men I thought we were the better team. Hopefully in this game I think we owe them one, all the lads are raring to go and we want every game to come quick, when you are confident that's what happens, you want the games to come quick and to keep coming.
You've trained on Christmas Day, is that something that bothers you as a footballer?
You know these are the consequences when you want to become a professional footballer. You know you are going to have to stop doing the things that you like doing and you are going to have to start training on days when you don't want to train, that's part and parcel of the game. It's not just Preston, every club in the country will do it. We will come in and train and hopefully on Boxing Day we will get the result.
The bonus is that we are at home so it's not an overnight one.
You can stay with your family over Christmas, not too much to eat and then you've got the game Boxing Day which everyone looks forward to, the players and the fans. Hopefully there will be a big turnout, the crowd can get behind us and we can give them another good performance.
And whilst your form upfront has been good, as a striker you all want goals.
That's the only thing that's missing. My allround game has been pretty decent, my link-up play has been pretty good, I just can't put the ball in the back of the net at the minute. Hopefully the tide will turn, I thought I'd scored against Burnley, I would say that though, I've looked at it and it wasn't a goal, but I will keep shooting and hopefully one of them will go in.
And if you don't stay at Deepdale you might yet leave a little legacy with a few goals before you leave?
I want to sign off on a good note. When I first came the fans have seen a bit of me and then I didn't play as much and now they are starting to see the best of me. I've come here to show the fans that I am a decent player, I've not just come here to get fit, I am passionate and I want to show them that I want to do well for the Club. Hopefully in the next few games I can put the ball in the back of the net.
With or without Paul Gallagher do you think this side with this new manager has what it takes to do well in this division?
Yes, it's not about one player, it's a team game. You look around this squad are there are players who can win a game on their own and when you put them together you have got more than enough. With the character and the spirit, the manager and the backroom staff I believe that this Club is in a false position. As we've seen over the last few weeks the turnaround has been amazing, all the players and the staff, everyone is hungry and they want to do well.
