Preston North End respond to 'out of context' public debate

On Saturday evening, a North End fan tweeted a screenshot of an email exchange between himself and the stadium and facilities manager at PNE discussing an issue with a leak on the Alan Kelly Town End.

The supporter was experiencing a leak above their head and had enquired about whether the stand would be repaired to solve the issue. The stadium and facilities manager instead suggesting a change of seat because the club could not currently afford to fix the problem as it was ‘massively out of reach’ for them at this stage. It was later said by the supporter making the enquiry that this was related to replacing the whole of the roof.

As the fanbase had continued to raise its concerns after the release of the screenshot, and in the wake of North End’s 2-0 defeat to Stoke City in PR1 on Saturday, the club have made a statement addressing the issue.

It read: “There has been an unfortunate ‘out of context’ public debate regarding the club’s position in ‘fixing’ roof leaks at the stadium.

“We have a rolling programme of maintenance work that carries on throughout the season as well as a more fundamental programme of works that we undertake during every close season.

“Leaking roofs are notoriously difficult to resolve as the point of entry of the water is rarely where the water drips into the stadium nevertheless we are addressing these issues as urgently as we can.

“Any suggestion that we are ignoring these issues due to budgetary constraints is misplaced.”