Having joined PNE on Friday ahead of the trip to Birmingham, new goalkeeper coach Dean Kiely already feels positive about the season ahead.
Kiely, who was part of the backroom staff at Norwich City alongisde manager Alex Neil and first team coach Frankie McAvoy, feels the club is moving forward and he is looking forward to being a part of what is to come at North End.
Speaking to iFollow PNE for the first time since his appointment, the 46-year-old said: "It's great for me to be here with a squad of players and a football club that's on the up so all things considered it's a real positive move for myself.
"I left Norwich around six or seven weeks ago and then spent that time just twiddling my thumbs and tidying the garage out and this, that and the other. Once those things are done you just want to be back invovled."
After just a few days with the North End squad, Kiely has already seen how hard the players and staff are working towards achieving success at Deepdale.
"I came in for training on Friday and took the game on Saturday and it's just great to be in. It's really refreshing as well because it's really apparent that the squad of players that Alex has got at his disposal work really hard.
"You can tell they are a really solid group and there are lots of positives and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them and working with them.
"When something comes your way like this, and I looked at Preston from afar before I worked here as a real solid football club that were climbing and going the right way, which is what you want to be a part of, something that is striving to go forward as opposed to just bobbing along.
"I'm not interested in just passing time, I want to be involved in something and add value to what we are trying to do here."
Kiely will have four goalkeepers to work with on the training ground, and he has been impressed by what he has seen so far.
"I've watched Chris Maxwell play many times for Fleetwood, as a coach it was my role as well to look for recruitment and so at West Brom and Norwich Chris was on the radar. So I would take in games and I know what he's all about.
"Declan I've worked with at Norwich and the two young kids Matt and Callum, first impressions of them are that they are bright young prospects that work really hard.
"As a group of four goalkeepers we have got a really good group, again they have enthusiasm, there's an energy and there's a buzz about that group as well as the whole football club and I think that's always half of the battle."
Hear more from Dean on iFollow PNE by clicking on the video above.