Peter Ridsdale provides the latest on Alan Browne amid Preston North End contract offer

Preston North End director Peter Ridsdale says he is ‘planning for life without’ club captain Alan Browne - but thinks the Irishman could yet decide to stay.

The Irishman is out of contract next month, having spent the last 10 years at Deepdale and risen to 13th in the all-time appearance list. But, he is yet to put pen-to-paper on the deal offered to him. Coventry City and Sheffield United have been linked with Browne recently, but Ridsdale believes Preston’s offer is the best put to the 29-year-old.

"I can't answer for Alan Browne, you'd need to ask him," Ridsdale told BBC Lancashire. "Looking on social media, he seems to be in Disneyland at the moment. Alan, we have been talking to on and off for some time, about whether he wants to stay and what he's looking for etc. We have made him an offer - I think it's a very generous offer. Interestingly, on reflection, I think Alan now probably thinks it's very generous - because I'm told that, in the market, he has been asking around to see what others might or might not be offering.

“And, our offer would appear to be more generous than he might've thought, at the time we made it. Yes, we gave him a deadline, because we thought it was only fair and proper that we could plan. That has passed and we haven't heard anything, so you can read whatever you want to read into that. Do I think that means he has said 'No'? I don't, I just think that means he hasn't answered. What are we going to do?

“We are planning for football without him, because it would be remiss of me not to do that - from a club point of view. So, we are in the market and looking, not only for someone in Alan's position, but positions freed up by others leaving. If we get to a point where we are about to sign a successor, and we still haven't heard, we will sign the successor. If he comes back from his holiday and wants to talk to us, my door is always open. As we sit here and today, I am looking for a successor to Alan Browne and planning for life without him. Does that mean that's the end of it? You never say never."