Preston North End owner Trevor Hemmings will NOT take up option to buy Cork City

At the end of October, Hemmings was given the exclusive option to buy the League of Ireland club through one of his companies Grovemoor Ltd.

Members of the fans-owned club voted to give him that option after PNE bought out the sell-on clauses for Alan Browne and Sean Maguire earlier in the year, while Hemmings also helped them meet a tax bill.

Hemmings, through North End advisor Peter Ridsdale, had been attempting to negotiate a longer lease on City’s Turner’s Cross ground with Munster FA, who are the landlords.

When no agreement was reached, Hemmings chose not to take up the option to buy. It is an open-ended exclusive option so it could be revived in the future.

Ridsdale told the Lancashire Post: “We’d been talking with Munster FA about having a longer lease. At the moment, the lease is only a short one.

“Cork pay a lot of money to play there and we said we wanted the protection of a longer lease.

“It’s an older ground and Munster FA look after the pitch but can’t afford to look after the buildings.

“We said we wanted the protection of a longer lease and the Munster FA would still own the ground.

“There hasn’t been an agreement and Mr Hemmings has decided not to take up the option to buy at this time.”

Hemmings has strong links in the Cork area, owning a holiday camp and horse racing stables.

Cork were relegated from the League of Ireland top flight in October.

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