Peter Ridsdale reveals two hour chat with Alan Browne as PNE offer at risk

Preston North End director Peter Ridsdale says Alan Browne was unsure on his future at the end of last season.

The Lilywhites could see their captain move on this summer, after 10 years at Deepdale and more than 400 appearances. Browne – who got married last weekend – has not signed a new deal at PNE yet. There have been tentative links to Sheffield United and Coventry City, as North End wait to learn their captain’s call.

According to manager Ryan Lowe, Browne was given until the middle of May to make a choice, but nothing came of it. By the end of the previous month, Ridsdale reported that he had not heard from the skipper. Preston must work on midfield targets in the background, but if those moves go through, Ridsdale promises the team will follow through.

Is this unusual? Honesty is a rare occurrence, according to Ridsdale. “You have to be extremely careful about sharing details about private conversations because people might assume that we haven’t spoken.” We made him an offer at the end of the season, with a deadline for a response, which he accepted. That was a long time ago now. At the end of the season, I talked with him for an hour and a half to two hours about his goals.

Furthermore, he declared he had no notion what he wanted to accomplish. Having spent his entire career with us, he was at a point in his life where he might have felt that a change would be beneficial, but he was at a loss for what to do. Then again, he would let us know which day he wanted to stay, depending on when he woke up. Since then, I spoke with him about something unrelated to football or his contract the weekend before (last) for a variety of reasons I won’t go into.

“I then sent him a ‘best wishes’ for his wedding last Friday and he sent me back ‘thanks a million’ – but there’s nothing really for me to add. I spent a lot of time with him, we knew where each other stood and I’ve said publicly we’re planning without him. That is what I am planning to do. I have got two players I met last week, both of whom are midfielders and both of whom are exciting. If we signed those two, we wouldn’t be bringing Alan back in, whatever he said.”