4 hours ago
Now that the 2024/25 Championship season has ended and we are close to the end of our financial year, I wanted to give the fans an overview of the likely financial outcome for the season, my thoughts on the football season just finished and some early considerations for the summer and the season ahead:
Turnover is anticipated to hit a new record high of over £20m, up from £16.9m last year.
The club has seen continued improvements in season card income, matchday income (including all commercial and shop revenues) and media income.
As previously highlighted, because we recognise some of our commercial income as “net” not “gross” income, our turnover figures would be a minimum £3m higher than shown. Therefore, on a like for like basis with other Championship football clubs our turnover would be over £23m.
Gross sales of merchandise are expected to hit a new record high with Castore.
Gross catering/hospitality and advertising sales have hit a new record high. An increase of 30% over last season.
Season card revenue hit a new record high, with sales for 2024/25 totalling 11,811.
Our average home league game attendance was slightly behind the previous season’s (2023/24) record high of 16,504 (this excludes all cup games).
We achieved our highest ever (since the modernisation of Deepdale) home attendance of 22,212 in the FA Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa.
The club’s investment into the squad increased significantly, as we signed seven players to the first team squad (permanent and loan players). Some of the permanent players will, we hope, go on to generate sell-on profit at some point in the future.
Driven by the increase in annual investment into the squad, the significant costs associated with the change in manager and assistant manager at the beginning of the season, and the unforeseen increases in National Minimum Wage and National Insurance costs (from April), the annual support required by the shareholder to cover the club’s losses is expected to increase to c£13.4m.
The season turned out to be memorable, but ultimately not for the kind of reasons we would have preferred. On the positive side we did have a great FA Cup run, our best cup run since 1966 culminating in a quarter-final home game against top Premier League opponents Aston Villa. We had a fantastic sold out Deepdale, and our fans went above and beyond to help create an amazing atmosphere. On the negative side, post the FA Cup quarter-final our run of results was poor, leading to an extremely tense end of the season.
Our fate coming down to the very last game of the season is not something any of us would wish to repeat. We can all speculate as to how or why it happened. We can point to the numerous draws we had (at 20 it is the highest in recent history), the key player injuries and the countless horrendous refereeing decisions we had against us. I am told we suffered the most incorrect key refereeing decisions in the division – again. Boring it was not – but frankly, I would prefer to never again have the levels of stress that all of us at the club (and you fans) felt at the end of the season.
None of this changes our ambition of being in the top six next season, it just heightens our resolve to do better. Consequently, the football management team have already been reviewing in great detail all the pros and cons from the season, and they are looking to rectify and improve everything within their control.
Significant changes have already been instigated and announced as we look to strengthen the key backroom and coaching staff areas.
2025/26 season
Looking to next season. Our season cards are on sale and for the fourth season in a row, we have kept the early bird prices at one of the lowest levels in the Championship. At under £13 per game (for the cheapest adult tickets), we are keeping football affordable for the whole family in a time of ever-increasing costs. At the time of writing our early bird offer has just closed and I’m pleased to say we have closely matched last season’s total of over 11,000 season ticket sales at this stage. A huge thank you to all the fans.
There’s still plenty of time to purchase season cards, as prices remain great value for money. We will be welcoming Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton back to Deepdale having come down from the Premier League and, I am sure there’ll be quite a few fans looking forward to welcoming a slice of Hollywood, when we entertain Wrexham, as well as Birmingham and Charlton all newly promoted from League One.
The Championship is becoming more competitive and exciting in its own right. As our end of season struggles proved, being in the Championship is not a given, it is something earned by hard work, endeavour, professionalism and constant investment, both on and off field. Promotion to the Premier League is the goal of all 24 clubs and only three can make it each season. The odds are being skewed more and more each season to those with the deepest pockets and more often than not, those with the parachute riches from the Premier League. But we have belief and with you the fans behind the team we are driven and determined to succeed.
Independent Football Regulator/current state of Football
I have highlighted several times previously the grossly unfair advantages afforded some clubs through the huge parachute payments they receive, often meaning that their player wages are four or five times greater than ours. To try and put this into context, if a newly relegated club scouts a player that we are interested in, that players wage demands will often double based solely on the spending power of that club due to parachute payments.
Unless or until the new football regulator gets to grips with this “monopolising” effect caused by parachute clubs driving up costs and sorts out the financial imbalance, it is hard to see how the football landscape can improve. The unfairness will increase. Over the past four years the Premier League hierarchy have “promised” to address this financial imbalance, for the good of the football pyramid, but have consistently failed to make any formal offer to the EFL clubs.
I am however encouraged that the new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) is now in situ. Whilst the IFR has a wide remit and consequently a great deal to do, I am hopeful that the existence of the IFR knocks some common sense into the Premier League hierarchy and forces them to have a meaningful sit down with the EFL.
If, as appears to have been their tactic for a number of years, the Premier League continue to pay lip service to the EFL, then I’d like to see the IFR prioritise a new financial agreement to support the whole of the football pyramid.
The financial reality of owning a Championship football club has changed dramatically over the ten years since we won promotion from League One back to the Championship. At that time the parachute payments amounted to £64m paid over a four-year period. Today the most recent winner of Championship Play-Off final is expected to receive an extra £200m income for one season in the Premier League.
It is well publicised that PNE’s player wage bill is one of the lowest in the division, and even so we, the owners, will be investing an additional c£13m this year to cover the club’s annual losses. Post-COVID we have made significant strides in driving up revenues across all the income streams to the club. Overall sales have grown from £13.9m in season 2021/22 to over £20m today, a c44% increase over three seasons.
However, we recognise that whilst the majority of fans fully understand that PNE does not survive in the Championship without a significant level of financial support. Consistently investing c£13m into the squad and club isn’t enough and isn’t sustainable.
To make the club more financially sustainable we know we have to continue to drive sales, to drive bottom line, to trade players as and when we can, to invest more into infrastructure (including the academy) to protect the long term. We have to adapt, evolve and try and improve every aspect of how we manage the club. All of which takes time and takes money. We simply cannot afford to invest into every single area of the club (whether infrastructure or players) that we would like to. Over the last few seasons, we have undertaken a great deal of the groundwork to this – big improvements to our trading and our infrastructure have been made - but there remains a lot of work to do.
On the one hand we want to drive better revenue streams, yet on the other, it is important to keep football affordable. Our approach to season card is a prime example. By keeping the price low, consistently one of the lowest in the Championship, are we losing out on valuable income? As supported by the club now consistently achieving its highest season ticket sales since the 1960s, we believe we have the pricing strategy about right.
Player trading is one of the areas that can potentially unlock a windfall opportunity. It is an area of renewed focus. In the past two seasons we’ve had sufficient headroom to try and get back to the pre-COVID model of finding players with sell-on potential. If the right offers materialise for our players, we will look to do the best deals we can for the player and for the club.
We understand the fans’ frustration when a player chooses to run his contract down and leave for free. Why didn’t we sell and capitalise on their value? In order to sell a player, there are a number of key factors that come into play. First, you need a willing buyer. Second, you need a willing seller (the price must be right). Third, you need a player and player’s agent willing to accept the move. If the player chooses not to accept an offer of a contract extension or refuses to accept an offer to move to another club there’s nothing PNE or any other club in the same situation can do about it.
As explained previously, there are reasons why we cannot (as yet) hold concerts at Deepdale during the summer months. Rest assured all such income generating ideas are considered and analysed to evaluate the income generating potential. We don’t claim to have all the ideas, and we are grateful for all fans suggestions. We will endeavour to action those ideas that we feasibly can.
Each season we have to prioritise our spending. I understand the frustration of some fans, they are impatient, and they want us to invest into all areas of the club all at once. Unfortunately, we do not have an infinite budget. Tough decisions have to be made at management level about strengthening the existing squad versus wanting a brand-new top-flight style playing surface, or safe standing, or an investment into a new indoor arena for the academy. There is merit in these investments, and we aim to address those that we can over time.
Social Media Abuse
There are some people out there, thankfully a tiny minority, who feel that it is perfectly acceptable to use the anonymity of social media to spread their anger and vitriol, to post threats and aim abuse at players, members of PNE staff and directly at me and my family. I’m not certain what they believe their threats will achieve, but let me be clear, none of this will deter anyone at the Club from constantly trying to do what’s best for PNE.
Social media abuse in any context is unacceptable, but it is also clearly counterintuitive. It will not suddenly make anyone perform their job better. It affects a person’s mental well-being, and consequently that of their family and loved ones.
In many cases these so-called fans don’t contribute one single penny to the club. They openly boast about never purchasing a season card or attending games. These people are not PNE fans. Their sole aim is to cause discord and create hatred. I respectfully ask that real PNE fans call out this abuse and ignorance whenever and wherever they come across it.
Everyone at the club is open to constructive criticism and dialogue. We are open to honest debate. Abuse and threats have no place in this, or any football club.
We operate numerous businesses, predominantly in the North West of England and indirectly and directly we employ thousands of people across many different sectors. All these businesses and employees rely on us to continue to invest into and grow those businesses too. We spend a large percentage of our annual profits on supporting PNE and we will continue to do so whilst we remain the custodians of this great club. But I repeat, as much as we’d love to have a huge “parachute” level budget to spend on PNE, we cannot invest more than we can afford.
PNE Community and Education Trust highlights
I am delighted to be able to highlight the amazing work consistently done by the PNE Community and Education Trust. During 2024, through various programmes, they delivered £1.7m of investment into the local area. 17,000 individuals benefited from the life-enhancing work of the charity across the three work streams of Education, Health & Wellbeing and Community Engagement.
In April, the former Chief Executive, Tom Drake, left the organisation to join the central Trust operation of the EFL. This senior appointment is testament to the excellent work that Tom coordinated whilst he was with us, and he leaves with our gratitude and best wishes. Former Deputy, Harriet Creighton-Levis now steps up to take on the Chief Executive role and continue all this valuable work. I have every confidence Harriet will diligently drive forward with the same commitment and enthusiasm.
Pre-season plans
Pre-season preparations are well underway. We have the training camp arranged for mid-July in Valencia. We already announced the exciting home game against newly crowned Premier League Champions Liverpool, on Sunday 13th July and a game in Valencia against Getafe on Friday 18th July. Announcements on many other pre-season games have now been made – check the PNE website for details.
The new Castore home kit will be available for fans to purchase online from Friday 27th June and in the PNE shop from Saturday 28th June, in time for the pre-season matches. We are very excited about our new kit sponsor and thank our previous sponsor, PAR Group, for their amazing support over the years we worked together.
We have been in dialogue with our new kit sponsor for some time and are extremely excited about the opportunity of working with one of the UK’s fastest growing brands. In partnership with their international marketing team, innovative plans to maximise club and brand exposure are being finalised. The identity of our new sponsor will be announced alongside the new home kit launch on Wednesday 25th June.
New player recruitment is well underway. We have already announced four new signings in addition to the retention of Robbie Brady. These signings will add greater depth to the squad in key areas. This transfer window more than any other in my tenure as Chairman is about revolution and not evolution. Paul Heckingbottom and his coaching staff have a significant opportunity to reshape the football squad into the team and style of play they believe needed to compete for the Play-Off places.
Plans have long been made and player targets identified for the summer transfer window. We believe our scouting infrastructure, analytics focus, and efficient decision-making processes will enable us to move quickly to land some hidden gems, both from the UK and international. We know we are not perfect, and we don’t get every player signing right, but our success ratio in this regard is far higher than rival clubs. It has to be.
Where possible our aim is to contract our own players, and these will be a combination of players with good Championship experience, to add stability and toughness to the squad and with some younger players, that we believe will develop into players with long term value. Either side of this we will look to strengthen with quality loan players. We are proud of our track record of discovering loan players that go on to achieve tremendous success with us and subsequently elsewhere.
Clubs like PNE are an important part of the journey many of these players take. It would be great to have the budget to purchase them, and it is only with the power of hindsight do we know which ones we should have tried to buy. However, in most cases their parent club have a longer-term plan for their player and often a sale isn’t an option at that time. As I have said before, we should relish the time they have with us and the part we as a club play in shaping the players they become.
As ever the fans and the local media will speculate and will link us with just about every player at some point. Some will find favour and excite, and others will cause outrage. I urge fans to remember that speculation is just that, speculation and highly unlikely to be accurate. We will not comment on rumours as it makes absolutely no sense to tip any rivals off as to who we are, or are not, looking to sign.
All that remains is for me to pay tribute to the fans of PNE who continue to attend Deepdale in record numbers. Whilst I believe the football on offer in 2024/25 has been an improvement, the results have not been, and so we know there’s a great deal of work to be done over the summer for next season. Your support is never taken for granted and is always appreciated.
I urge every PNE supporter to purchase a season card and help the club achieve its goal of competing at the top end of the Championship. We cannot achieve this, and we cannot invest into the squad as much as we’d like, without you all. The fans are what makes the club tick in all aspects.
Yours sincerely
Craig Hemmings
Chairman.
Turnover is anticipated to hit a new record high of over £20m, up from £16.9m last year.
The club has seen continued improvements in season card income, matchday income (including all commercial and shop revenues) and media income.
As previously highlighted, because we recognise some of our commercial income as “net” not “gross” income, our turnover figures would be a minimum £3m higher than shown. Therefore, on a like for like basis with other Championship football clubs our turnover would be over £23m.
Gross sales of merchandise are expected to hit a new record high with Castore.
Gross catering/hospitality and advertising sales have hit a new record high. An increase of 30% over last season.
Season card revenue hit a new record high, with sales for 2024/25 totalling 11,811.
Our average home league game attendance was slightly behind the previous season’s (2023/24) record high of 16,504 (this excludes all cup games).
We achieved our highest ever (since the modernisation of Deepdale) home attendance of 22,212 in the FA Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa.
The club’s investment into the squad increased significantly, as we signed seven players to the first team squad (permanent and loan players). Some of the permanent players will, we hope, go on to generate sell-on profit at some point in the future.
Driven by the increase in annual investment into the squad, the significant costs associated with the change in manager and assistant manager at the beginning of the season, and the unforeseen increases in National Minimum Wage and National Insurance costs (from April), the annual support required by the shareholder to cover the club’s losses is expected to increase to c£13.4m.
The season turned out to be memorable, but ultimately not for the kind of reasons we would have preferred. On the positive side we did have a great FA Cup run, our best cup run since 1966 culminating in a quarter-final home game against top Premier League opponents Aston Villa. We had a fantastic sold out Deepdale, and our fans went above and beyond to help create an amazing atmosphere. On the negative side, post the FA Cup quarter-final our run of results was poor, leading to an extremely tense end of the season.
Our fate coming down to the very last game of the season is not something any of us would wish to repeat. We can all speculate as to how or why it happened. We can point to the numerous draws we had (at 20 it is the highest in recent history), the key player injuries and the countless horrendous refereeing decisions we had against us. I am told we suffered the most incorrect key refereeing decisions in the division – again. Boring it was not – but frankly, I would prefer to never again have the levels of stress that all of us at the club (and you fans) felt at the end of the season.
None of this changes our ambition of being in the top six next season, it just heightens our resolve to do better. Consequently, the football management team have already been reviewing in great detail all the pros and cons from the season, and they are looking to rectify and improve everything within their control.
Significant changes have already been instigated and announced as we look to strengthen the key backroom and coaching staff areas.
2025/26 season
Looking to next season. Our season cards are on sale and for the fourth season in a row, we have kept the early bird prices at one of the lowest levels in the Championship. At under £13 per game (for the cheapest adult tickets), we are keeping football affordable for the whole family in a time of ever-increasing costs. At the time of writing our early bird offer has just closed and I’m pleased to say we have closely matched last season’s total of over 11,000 season ticket sales at this stage. A huge thank you to all the fans.
There’s still plenty of time to purchase season cards, as prices remain great value for money. We will be welcoming Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton back to Deepdale having come down from the Premier League and, I am sure there’ll be quite a few fans looking forward to welcoming a slice of Hollywood, when we entertain Wrexham, as well as Birmingham and Charlton all newly promoted from League One.
The Championship is becoming more competitive and exciting in its own right. As our end of season struggles proved, being in the Championship is not a given, it is something earned by hard work, endeavour, professionalism and constant investment, both on and off field. Promotion to the Premier League is the goal of all 24 clubs and only three can make it each season. The odds are being skewed more and more each season to those with the deepest pockets and more often than not, those with the parachute riches from the Premier League. But we have belief and with you the fans behind the team we are driven and determined to succeed.
Independent Football Regulator/current state of Football
I have highlighted several times previously the grossly unfair advantages afforded some clubs through the huge parachute payments they receive, often meaning that their player wages are four or five times greater than ours. To try and put this into context, if a newly relegated club scouts a player that we are interested in, that players wage demands will often double based solely on the spending power of that club due to parachute payments.
Unless or until the new football regulator gets to grips with this “monopolising” effect caused by parachute clubs driving up costs and sorts out the financial imbalance, it is hard to see how the football landscape can improve. The unfairness will increase. Over the past four years the Premier League hierarchy have “promised” to address this financial imbalance, for the good of the football pyramid, but have consistently failed to make any formal offer to the EFL clubs.
I am however encouraged that the new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) is now in situ. Whilst the IFR has a wide remit and consequently a great deal to do, I am hopeful that the existence of the IFR knocks some common sense into the Premier League hierarchy and forces them to have a meaningful sit down with the EFL.
If, as appears to have been their tactic for a number of years, the Premier League continue to pay lip service to the EFL, then I’d like to see the IFR prioritise a new financial agreement to support the whole of the football pyramid.
The financial reality of owning a Championship football club has changed dramatically over the ten years since we won promotion from League One back to the Championship. At that time the parachute payments amounted to £64m paid over a four-year period. Today the most recent winner of Championship Play-Off final is expected to receive an extra £200m income for one season in the Premier League.
It is well publicised that PNE’s player wage bill is one of the lowest in the division, and even so we, the owners, will be investing an additional c£13m this year to cover the club’s annual losses. Post-COVID we have made significant strides in driving up revenues across all the income streams to the club. Overall sales have grown from £13.9m in season 2021/22 to over £20m today, a c44% increase over three seasons.
However, we recognise that whilst the majority of fans fully understand that PNE does not survive in the Championship without a significant level of financial support. Consistently investing c£13m into the squad and club isn’t enough and isn’t sustainable.
To make the club more financially sustainable we know we have to continue to drive sales, to drive bottom line, to trade players as and when we can, to invest more into infrastructure (including the academy) to protect the long term. We have to adapt, evolve and try and improve every aspect of how we manage the club. All of which takes time and takes money. We simply cannot afford to invest into every single area of the club (whether infrastructure or players) that we would like to. Over the last few seasons, we have undertaken a great deal of the groundwork to this – big improvements to our trading and our infrastructure have been made - but there remains a lot of work to do.
On the one hand we want to drive better revenue streams, yet on the other, it is important to keep football affordable. Our approach to season card is a prime example. By keeping the price low, consistently one of the lowest in the Championship, are we losing out on valuable income? As supported by the club now consistently achieving its highest season ticket sales since the 1960s, we believe we have the pricing strategy about right.
Player trading is one of the areas that can potentially unlock a windfall opportunity. It is an area of renewed focus. In the past two seasons we’ve had sufficient headroom to try and get back to the pre-COVID model of finding players with sell-on potential. If the right offers materialise for our players, we will look to do the best deals we can for the player and for the club.
We understand the fans’ frustration when a player chooses to run his contract down and leave for free. Why didn’t we sell and capitalise on their value? In order to sell a player, there are a number of key factors that come into play. First, you need a willing buyer. Second, you need a willing seller (the price must be right). Third, you need a player and player’s agent willing to accept the move. If the player chooses not to accept an offer of a contract extension or refuses to accept an offer to move to another club there’s nothing PNE or any other club in the same situation can do about it.
As explained previously, there are reasons why we cannot (as yet) hold concerts at Deepdale during the summer months. Rest assured all such income generating ideas are considered and analysed to evaluate the income generating potential. We don’t claim to have all the ideas, and we are grateful for all fans suggestions. We will endeavour to action those ideas that we feasibly can.
Each season we have to prioritise our spending. I understand the frustration of some fans, they are impatient, and they want us to invest into all areas of the club all at once. Unfortunately, we do not have an infinite budget. Tough decisions have to be made at management level about strengthening the existing squad versus wanting a brand-new top-flight style playing surface, or safe standing, or an investment into a new indoor arena for the academy. There is merit in these investments, and we aim to address those that we can over time.
Social Media Abuse
There are some people out there, thankfully a tiny minority, who feel that it is perfectly acceptable to use the anonymity of social media to spread their anger and vitriol, to post threats and aim abuse at players, members of PNE staff and directly at me and my family. I’m not certain what they believe their threats will achieve, but let me be clear, none of this will deter anyone at the Club from constantly trying to do what’s best for PNE.
Social media abuse in any context is unacceptable, but it is also clearly counterintuitive. It will not suddenly make anyone perform their job better. It affects a person’s mental well-being, and consequently that of their family and loved ones.
In many cases these so-called fans don’t contribute one single penny to the club. They openly boast about never purchasing a season card or attending games. These people are not PNE fans. Their sole aim is to cause discord and create hatred. I respectfully ask that real PNE fans call out this abuse and ignorance whenever and wherever they come across it.
Everyone at the club is open to constructive criticism and dialogue. We are open to honest debate. Abuse and threats have no place in this, or any football club.
We operate numerous businesses, predominantly in the North West of England and indirectly and directly we employ thousands of people across many different sectors. All these businesses and employees rely on us to continue to invest into and grow those businesses too. We spend a large percentage of our annual profits on supporting PNE and we will continue to do so whilst we remain the custodians of this great club. But I repeat, as much as we’d love to have a huge “parachute” level budget to spend on PNE, we cannot invest more than we can afford.
PNE Community and Education Trust highlights
I am delighted to be able to highlight the amazing work consistently done by the PNE Community and Education Trust. During 2024, through various programmes, they delivered £1.7m of investment into the local area. 17,000 individuals benefited from the life-enhancing work of the charity across the three work streams of Education, Health & Wellbeing and Community Engagement.
In April, the former Chief Executive, Tom Drake, left the organisation to join the central Trust operation of the EFL. This senior appointment is testament to the excellent work that Tom coordinated whilst he was with us, and he leaves with our gratitude and best wishes. Former Deputy, Harriet Creighton-Levis now steps up to take on the Chief Executive role and continue all this valuable work. I have every confidence Harriet will diligently drive forward with the same commitment and enthusiasm.
Pre-season plans
Pre-season preparations are well underway. We have the training camp arranged for mid-July in Valencia. We already announced the exciting home game against newly crowned Premier League Champions Liverpool, on Sunday 13th July and a game in Valencia against Getafe on Friday 18th July. Announcements on many other pre-season games have now been made – check the PNE website for details.
The new Castore home kit will be available for fans to purchase online from Friday 27th June and in the PNE shop from Saturday 28th June, in time for the pre-season matches. We are very excited about our new kit sponsor and thank our previous sponsor, PAR Group, for their amazing support over the years we worked together.
We have been in dialogue with our new kit sponsor for some time and are extremely excited about the opportunity of working with one of the UK’s fastest growing brands. In partnership with their international marketing team, innovative plans to maximise club and brand exposure are being finalised. The identity of our new sponsor will be announced alongside the new home kit launch on Wednesday 25th June.
New player recruitment is well underway. We have already announced four new signings in addition to the retention of Robbie Brady. These signings will add greater depth to the squad in key areas. This transfer window more than any other in my tenure as Chairman is about revolution and not evolution. Paul Heckingbottom and his coaching staff have a significant opportunity to reshape the football squad into the team and style of play they believe needed to compete for the Play-Off places.
Plans have long been made and player targets identified for the summer transfer window. We believe our scouting infrastructure, analytics focus, and efficient decision-making processes will enable us to move quickly to land some hidden gems, both from the UK and international. We know we are not perfect, and we don’t get every player signing right, but our success ratio in this regard is far higher than rival clubs. It has to be.
Where possible our aim is to contract our own players, and these will be a combination of players with good Championship experience, to add stability and toughness to the squad and with some younger players, that we believe will develop into players with long term value. Either side of this we will look to strengthen with quality loan players. We are proud of our track record of discovering loan players that go on to achieve tremendous success with us and subsequently elsewhere.
Clubs like PNE are an important part of the journey many of these players take. It would be great to have the budget to purchase them, and it is only with the power of hindsight do we know which ones we should have tried to buy. However, in most cases their parent club have a longer-term plan for their player and often a sale isn’t an option at that time. As I have said before, we should relish the time they have with us and the part we as a club play in shaping the players they become.
As ever the fans and the local media will speculate and will link us with just about every player at some point. Some will find favour and excite, and others will cause outrage. I urge fans to remember that speculation is just that, speculation and highly unlikely to be accurate. We will not comment on rumours as it makes absolutely no sense to tip any rivals off as to who we are, or are not, looking to sign.
All that remains is for me to pay tribute to the fans of PNE who continue to attend Deepdale in record numbers. Whilst I believe the football on offer in 2024/25 has been an improvement, the results have not been, and so we know there’s a great deal of work to be done over the summer for next season. Your support is never taken for granted and is always appreciated.
I urge every PNE supporter to purchase a season card and help the club achieve its goal of competing at the top end of the Championship. We cannot achieve this, and we cannot invest into the squad as much as we’d like, without you all. The fans are what makes the club tick in all aspects.
Yours sincerely
Craig Hemmings
Chairman.
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?