NORTH END boss David Moyes has ended speculation about his future at Deepdale by signing on the dotted line for a new five-year contract with the club.

And he thanked Preston's brilliant supporters for persuading him to stay.

At a press conference on Monday, Moyes praised everyone involved at the club for their support who had who had convinced him to stay.

He said: "The support I have received from the players, fans and the board has been excellent.

"It is so important that the people I work for are good people, and honest and straight. A really good board like this one are supportive."

After weeks of speculation and rumour of moves to other clubs North End's chief executive Tony Scholes was understandably delighted.

He said: "We believe David is the best young manager in the game. He is ambitious and so are we at Preston North End."

A clause in the manager's lucrative new contract allows for a move to a Premiership side in the future.

"This club has given me a good deal to stay and I am genuinely honoured by that," said Moyes. "But I'm very ambitious and the club's ambition must match my own. I have made it clear that if the right club with the right opportunities comes along, the club makes me aware of that."

But for the time being, Moyes is happy where he is. Despite being linked with a host of top jobs, he's decided to stay faithful to the club who gave him his first managerial break after being won over by the fans.

"There was an opportunity where I could have left and there have been other opportunities in the past," said Moyes.

"But a lot of things have happened in the past month and the support we had at the end of the season, including the 35,000 that backed us at Cardiff, have restored my faith.

"I have had lots of letters of support and encouragement to stay at the club and that helped me make my decision."

He added: "The club has improved ten-fold since I first came here.

"The development of the ground, the Football Museum, our training facilities and youth set-up are just some of the things that tell me this club is going in the right direction." Speaking of his plans for the future, Moyes said that promotion was still one of the clubs priorities.

He said: "My job now is to make PNE into a strong First Division team, but when the first ball kicks off the season it is our job to win promotion.

"We tasted success last year, now we have to try and grasp it."

Chief executive Tony Scholes admitted he was relieved to finally tie up the highly-rated Scot on a new deal.

And he's now relishing the chance of launching a fresh assault on promotion to the Premiership with Moyes at the helm.

"There has been a lot of speculation over the last few months over David's future and that attention is well merited.

"We believe David is the best young manager in the game and we believe he is the man to help push Preston into the Premiership.

"We are delighted he has signed a new five-year deal with the club." FUTURE ASSURED: David Moyes is happy to stay at Deepdale. PRESTON boss David Moyes today warned the Deepdale board to match his own ambitions or face the prospect of losing him to a bigger club.

Moyes may have put pen to paper on a new five year deal yesterday after snubbing the chance to take charge of Southampton.

Moyes's stock as a manager has risen beyond all recognition over the last three years after taking North End from the depths of the Second Division to within 90 minutes of the Premiership.

"I'm flattered by the jobs I am being linked with, but I just felt that right now it was the right decision for David Moyes to stay.

"The club has improved tenfold since I arrived and I feel I'm moving this club in the right direction.

"We tasted success last year and our job now is to grasp that again.

"That will be my job from day one when we all report back for the new season."

Wonderful news for all at PNE THIS is magnificent news for Preston North End, the club, the players and the fans, writes Tom Parker.

He is one of the best young managers in football. In fact I would say he is the best manager outside the Premiership.

His record since taking over at Preston is amazing.

In his first season he saved the team from relegation from Division Two and the next season he led them to the play-offs.

A year later the team were promoted to Division One as champions and this season he surprised everyone by taking them to within one match of the Premiership.

To commit himself for five years is very unusual but credit must go to the board for their foresight and ambition.

It is a perfect marriage between David Moyes, the players, the supporters and the board.

Credit must go the board of North End who have succeeded in running the club successfully and have backed the manager all the way.

With some money for one or two more players to strengthen the team I seriously believe that with Moyes at the helm Preston could be in the Premiership in two years time.