I’d suggest he needs to update himself’: Preston North End and council chiefs clash in football pitch row
“I’m a season ticket holder. Why would I not be interested in helping the club?”
A row over dropped plans to build indoor football pitches has broken out between key figures from Preston North End and the city council.
Preston City Council deputy leader Martyn Rawlinson reacted with anger after the football club’s director, Peter Ridsdale, said the authority was not interested in building a new facility as part of plans to develop Ashton Park. After claiming this was untrue and that the club had failed to respond, Cllr Rawlinson was told he should “update himself” by an exasperated Mr Ridsdale.
The row first broke out when Mr Ridsdale was discussing the state of the club’s academy and the fact it would need an indoor facility in order to move to a higher classification.
Mr Ridsdale said: “We’ve talked to the council, who say they aren’t interested and that it’s our problem not theirs.”
He continued to suggest that Levelling Up money awarded to improve Ashton Park could have included plans for an indoor football facility, and later told LancsLive the club had offered to operate such a facility on its behalf, allowing the public to access it.
This, he said, is similar to what happened when he was involved at Cardiff City when the club ran a facility on behalf of the council. Meanwhile, the council has since said it is planning to include an uncovered, all-weather pitch as part of its plans for Ashton Park.
In response to Mr Ridsdale’s interview, Cllr Rawlinson shared his own frustration on X – formerly Twitter – and directly disputed that account. He wrote: “I’m fuming about this. It’s absolutely not true.” He went on to say that he had asked Mr Ridsdale for an updated costing with an offer for the council to help but that “he never came back to us”.
Asked about this, Mr Ridsdale confirmed that he met with Cllr Rawlinson and the council’s chief executive in August 2022 but rubbished the suggestion there had been no further contact from him. He said: “He said that they’ve had nothing back. I met with the chief executive again in May 2023 and then I wrote to him in July and he wrote back a week letter.
“He told me in that letter that ‘we’re not interested’. If Martyn Rawlinson is suggesting that there’s been nothing since that meeting in August, I’d suggest he needs to update himself.”
Responding directly to LancsLive, Cllr Rawlinson confirmed a meeting took place last August in which it was requested the club “get new costings for the soccer dome as I had identified a potential funding source” but said no further information materialised.
He added: “I’m a season ticket holder. Why would I not be interested in helping the club? Negative comments about the council in the press from a senior local figure are not helpful for anyone.”
In a further statement issued by the council, he said: “The council has had discussions with PNE regarding their plans for an indoor football pitch. Senior councillors and officers have spent time in discussion with Mr Ridsdale and his colleagues.
