Paul Heckingbottom walked away from the summer transfer window with a dozen new faces at Deepdale. His Preston side have still not won a Championship match this season. Four defeats from four, zero points, bottom of the table: the noise, as the manager calls it, has only grown louder.

"There's no way we had a competitive team at the start of the season," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire. "The squad has changed every single week from the first game. We've got the tools now. We've put the squad together. Now we have to get to work and get the wins. That's the only way noise stops. You've got to start winning."

A rebuild that needed time the fixture list refused to give

The scale of the overhaul helps explain the slow start. Preston lost five centre-forwards across the close season and replaced them with two. The goalscoring returns reflect that gap: three Championship goals in four outings, a return that leaves Preston facing Saturday's Lancashire derby with Blackburn Rovers needing a result above almost all else.

Heckingbottom has adjusted his thinking accordingly. Wider players carry a heavier creative burden than in previous seasons, and he has already flagged that goals from centre-backs will be a requirement this term rather than a bonus. It is a frank admission that the squad still carries structural imbalances, even after a window that delivered unprecedented financial support from the board.

"We've made that first step to improve resources and be able to start to compete, and get to the level where we can really push," the manager said.

Board backing raises the stakes

The investment makes the results harder to absorb, not easier. When a club backs its manager as heavily as Preston have backed Heckingbottom, a four-game winless start concentrates attention quickly. The manager acknowledged the gratitude he owes the board while being careful to frame longer-term ambitions in honest terms.

"Progression, finishing as high as we can, and winning promotion and growing the club is further down the line," he said. "The short term is just winning games."

It is a position that carries echoes of last season's second half. Preston sat fourth in January only to collect three wins in their final 15 games and slide to a 14th-place finish, a collapse that sharpened the urgency of this summer's recruitment. The club's leadership appears to have drawn conclusions from that fade: develop from within, build a pathway that generates sell-on value, and construct a squad capable of sustaining a push rather than simply starting one.

What the Blackburn fixture means

None of that longer-term architecture matters until Preston start accumulating points. The Blackburn derby on Saturday represents exactly the kind of occasion that can shift a dressing room's mood in one 90 minutes. A win stops the conversation about the table; a fifth successive defeat deepens it considerably.

Heckingbottom's tone throughout the week has been composed rather than defensive. He has not hidden from the results, acknowledged the squad was in flux during the opening weeks, and pointed to the tools now available as justification for optimism. Whether that optimism translates on the pitch, the Championship table will record without sentiment.

"The biggest thing that we had to do as a club if we want to move forward is make sure we can develop our own players," he added. "Ultimately the benefit is you have success together, or you sell players and move on and invest."

The wins, though, have to come first. Heckingbottom knows it. Deepdale knows it. Saturday offers the first chance to act on it.

Frequently asked

Why are Preston bottom of the Championship table?
Preston have lost all four of their Championship matches to open the season, scoring only three goals. Manager Paul Heckingbottom has pointed to a major summer rebuild, including the departure of five centre-forwards, as a key factor in the slow start.
Who is Preston's next Championship fixture?
Preston face Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, a derby the club desperately need to win after four successive defeats.
How many signings did Preston make in the summer transfer window?
According to manager Paul Heckingbottom, Preston brought in around a dozen new signings across July and August, backed by what he described as unprecedented financial support from the board.