Paul Gallagher had a taste of life in charge when he stepped up to be caretaker manager at Stoke City last winter

Paul Gallagher is preparing to go around the training grounds in the name of research as he looks to become a manager.

Gallagher, aged 39, has left Stoke City during the close season after one season back at the club where he had enjoyed two spells on loan as a player. He was brought in by Alex Neil, his old boss at Preston North End, and served as caretaker for two matches following Neil’s departure, then worked alongside new head coach Steven Schumacher.

Now he wants to break out on his own, telling the Lancashire Post: “The next step, I hope, is to be a head coach/manager. I feel like I’ve done the coaching for four years and don’t get me wrong, I love that – being on the grass with the players, giving them detail, information and trying to improve them.

“I would like to go out and watch other teams and go to other games – at League One and League Two level even, just to see how other things work. Hopefully, the time might come where I get an opportunity to a young head coach. I would like to be an aggressive manager, I always feel personality is a big thing. I think your team has got to play with personality and if you set up aggressive without the ball, the other team knows they are in for a game.