'If we do' - Peter Ridsdale stresses transfer significance as Preston North End's £1m boost detailed

Preston North End CEO Peter Ridsdale has reflected on the letter sent to the football club by two groups representing the fan base, earlier this season.

In late November, ‘immediate reform’ was called for in the letter - co-written by PNE Online and PNE Supporters Collective Steering Group. At the time, North End sat 19th in the Championship table after drawing 0-0 at Stoke City.

Paul Heckingbottom’s side have climbed since then but remain in mid-table - clear of the relegation zone but some way off the play-off picture. The North End boss did guide Preston to the FA Cup quarter-finals though and ahead of that tie, against Aston Villa last Sunday, Ridsdale was interviewed by the BBC.

“If you let it affect you then you don’t do your job properly,” said Ridsdale, to BBC 5 Live. “Clearly, it is disappointing because they are frustrated if they’re writing letters like that. We saw the groups concerned; I got a lot of messages saying that they don’t represent the whole of the fan base.

“But if they’ve got frustrations, our job is to listen to them, try to give them answers, get on and continue to do the right thing, as best as we can. That’s what we do on a day in, day out basis. This football club has got the 21st wage bill in the Championship.

“We are currently 14th and we’re disappointed by that. We’ve drawn 17 games. We’ve been in the top half of the table, most years, since we got promoted back into the division in 2015. But it’s tough, because for every club like Preston who are trying to get into the top six, or get promoted, there are another 23 out there trying to do the same thing. So, it’s not easy, but if fans have got genuine concerns it is our job to listen to them, explain and hope they understand. But, they just want to see us win, don’t they? So do I.”

North End have finished no higher than 7th and no lower than 14th since returning to the second tier in 2014/15, with Heckingbottom the fifth manager in the dugout during that spell. Ridsdale was then asked if he feels everything is in place to push higher next season.

“We’ve drawn 17 games this season, which is far too many,” said Ridsdale. “Of those 17 games, there is something called a Key Match Incidents panel. I think we have got the highest number of mistakes made against us that would’ve cost us points.

“If you are drawing those games, it doesn’t take a lot to turn them into wins. If half of those had been wins, we’d be in the play-offs now. We’ve got a manager who I have been so impressed with. He came here in difficult circumstances, at the start of the season after a couple of games.

“We have lost one league game here at Deepdale (under him) and then one in the League Cup, against Arsenal. I would like to think, with the fans behind us and the manager we’ve got, we stand a chance of doing something special. Even more importantly, he believes and I do too, listening to him, that if we do the right recruitment in the summer we’ll give it a right go at getting promoted next year.”

On the topic of the summer transfer window - in which Ridsdale has already admitted Preston could sign up to 10 new players - the FA Cup run has generated a financial boost.

“We budget to get knocked out in the first round we enter it and normally, it’s the only budget I hit every year!” said Ridsdale. “This year we have missed it, nicely. We’ve made about one million pounds - unbudgeted income - so far, getting to this stage. That includes the gate today.”

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