This afternoon is the final home game of the season and I would like to start by thanking you all for your support since I have been at the Club. Since I have come in your support has been fantastic. You have really really helped us. We have had some disappointing results and some disappointing performances, but you have always stuck with us. I have said from day one that we are all in it together and that won't change. Sometimes we have to get the you going with a lively performance and sometimes you have had to pick us up and I think you can see what I want to do and where I want us to go as a club, but it is important that we are up there challenging and not fighting relegation, as we have done this season. As long as we progress that is the important thing.

It has been an interesting few months, but the hard work starts here and we are already preparing for next season. We have blooded a few young lads who have done well and I want to continue doing that and add it to the experienced players we have got, to get a good blend.

I know this year you have heard a lot about the competition in the division and how there are so many teams who could get promoted, but we won't be over-worrying or over-analysing what other teams do, it is about us - what we do and we have to make sure we do as much as a club to freshen things up as we can. I have sat down with the board and they know where I want to go and are very positive about it all. It will take time, but I am looking forward to it. For me as a young manager these three months have been a real learning curve and hopefully I can use that to my advantage.

There are advantages to coming into a club in January, as I did at Peterborough, and there are disadvantages as well. In the last three months I have been able to analyse what we've got and try and implement the changes a few changes that I felt needed to take place. I have had a good look now; I know what I want to do and myself and the board have been working hard to implement things to the way I want to go with the football club. I have felt since I came in that the average age was too low and we have already reduced that and I think that's important. We also have to look at the injuries and do a lot of work on injury prevention, to try and make sure that we don't have too many problems because it will be a relatively small squad that we want to have, so we want as few injuries as possible.

I know where we want to go for next season, but we have to be patient. Not a lot happens in the summer months, because clubs don't want to spend wages when people aren't playing, but I would imagine a lot will happen when we are coming back for pre-season. We'll try and get one or two things going in the summer months and the players will get fitness programmes, to ensure they stay fit.

You don't know what a club is about until you come into it, but from the outside Preston has always been a football club and I have not been let down, it is a great football club and I am really looking forward to next season and the seasons beyond that.

The fans have to be aware that will not just be a case of one list out and one list in when the season ends, it does not work like that, but I do think there has to be a freshness to the squad and we have tried to that since I came in. We have been fortunate enough to get a few players in already and add to that the quality we already have in the squad. It is a good squad; the backbone of it is sound and we have some good experienced players, led by Callum Davidson, who has really come to the fore in the last few weeks when we have needed it. You have to get the right blend of youth and experience to help one another along, but as long as we have a close knit squad and cut back on injuries, then I think we can look forward to the new season with confidence.

I would like to congratulate the youth team on winning their league. I have said before that it is important we have young players coming through here at Preston, and as I have already mentioned we have now blooded a couple of young lads. Well done to all the staff and players in the youth set up for their achievements this year.

There are also people at the Club who probably don't get the credit behind the scenes. I have my own staff, plus the chefs, the kitmen, everyone at Deepdale and there are a lot of people who bring it all together, because Preston is a big club. You need all the help you can get as a manager and you need people you can trust and we have a good staff here - good people who want to do well for the Club and they all play a part.

Finally I would like to welcome Nigel Pearson and his staff and players to Deepdale this afternoon. If we can win the game we will have gone ten matches undefeated at home since the first week in February and that is something we can take into the summer and build upon. I hope you all have an enjoyable summer and look forward to seeing you back at Deepdale in July ready to start our campaign to get to where we all want to be - the Premier League.

Darren Ferguson