Training Ground Move

Last updated : 05 September 2020 By @pnemad

Preston's training facilities have always been a topic of debate for North End fans. Several years ago the club purchased land at the Ingol Golf Club site assisted by a number of fans to get planning permission across the line.

The vision was that owner Trevor Hemmings would use part of the land to build houses whilst the profit from those sales would fund a new state of the art training facility.

The theory was all well and good until it was recently established that Preston would have to sell houses for nine years before they would have sufficient funds for the training facility. Clearly not a well thought out business plan.

The pandemic has changed numerous things. Wigan have gone into administration and with that means a sale of assets to keep the club afloat. Preston had previously tried to buy the Euxton training base when Bolton sold the site a few years ago but were then outbid by Wigan.

North End were offered a cut price deal by Wigan's administrators which was too good to refuse. The facility is certainly an upgrade from Springfields and a significant reduction on the figure originally bid by North End for Euxton several years ago.

The figure quoted is around £1.5 million and it makes sense as it is an immediate upgrade which does not count towards financial fair play. The future of the Ingol site is still unclear but for the immediate future the issue of Preston's training complex has been resolved.