New deal at PNE for Welsh

John Welsh has signed a new one-year contract with Preston North End.
PNE midfielder John WelshPNE midfielder John Welsh
PNE midfielder John Welsh

The midfielder’s current deal was due to run out at the end of this season but he has extended his stay until the summer of 2018.

He joined North End on a Bosman after leaving Tranmere in 2012, and has made 165 appearances in a Preston shirt – 140 starts and 25 coming off the bench.

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Welsh said: “I’m really delighted to have sorted the new contract.

“From the minute I first drove up the M6 to join Preston a few years ago, I knew it was somewhere I wanted to play football.

“Through these years, nothing has changed, I enjoy coming in every morning to work with the lads and the people around the training ground.

“To be able to do that for another year makes me feel really happy.

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“This is a really good football club, everyone gets on well with each other, there is a good atmosphere about the place.

“It is a friendly club and I’ve enjoyed minute of being here.

“I always give it my all in training and games so it is nice to be rewarded with another year.

“I’m not getting any younger, I know that, so I have to keep my self focused, keep my body right and look after myself.

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“I feel like I have got a new lease of life, I’m probably in one of the best shapes I’ve been in my career.

“The fitness coach Tom Little has been brilliant with me, working with me on the weights and what I eat.

“This is not just another year for the sake of it, I want to push on and get up the table, as all the other lads do.”

Welsh will be a frustrated spectator for the next couple of weeks, having suffered a calf muscle injury in the latter stages of Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Brighton.

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He is definitely out of Wednesday night’s clash with Huddersfield at Deepdale and the trip to Norwich City on Saturday.

“If you had asked me on Saturday after the game how I was, I would have said it was a bad one,” said 32-year-old Welsh.

“But by Monday morning it had settled down a lot and today it has settled down even more.

“It is looking like it could be a couple of weeks.

“I’m a quick healer and hopefully it won’t be that long.

“The injury happened when I went to control the ball, I was already stretching and when I tried to nick the ball, I stretched that bit more.

“I felt a little pop in my calf which was strange to me because I haven’t done a muscle in that way before.”