Preston North End have parted company with manager Phil Brown after less than a year in charge at Deepdale.

The former Hull boss, 52, was appointed in January but was unable to save them from relegation from the Championship.

They currently lie 10th in the League One table, only five points short of the play-off places.

Assistant boss Brian Horton has also left the club, while Graham Alexander and David Unsworth have been put in temporary charge.

Brown is the 12th English club manager to lose his job this
season, his departure having come just eight days after Peter Ridsdale,
formerly with Leeds, Barnsley, Cardiff and Plymouth, joined Preston as chairman.

Explaining the decision, Ridsdale said in a statement:
"Following relegation we had hoped that we would be in a position to
compete for an immediate return to the Championship but, after a
promising start, we have only won one of our last 11 league games and we
are out of all three cup competitions."