Ridsdale unravels ins and outs of transfer window & deadline day

Preston CEO Peter Ridsdale has spoken to the Lancashire Post about the summer's transfer business at the club.

- by George Hodgson

The Deepdale director discussed the loan signing of Harrison Armstrong from Everton, last-gasp links to former loan star Tom Cannon, the summer’s budget and more in PART ONE of an exclusive interview.

It makes sense to start with transfer deadline day. How do you reflect on it, and what you managed to do?

“Well, it was stressful in the sense that we managed to get Harrison Armstrong over the line with 23 minutes to go,” said Ridsdale. “It was as much, could Everton get somebody in? It was also a lot of internal discussions at Everton as to whether they really were prepared to let him out. So, it's always up against the clock. Obviously, the clock was earlier this year than normal because it was seven o'clock.

“There were a few flirtations with, ‘Could we afford to’, ‘Was there an availability of another player?’ The problem we had was we really didn't have the budget for another player and some of the names being bandied around...people don't have background detail. There were a few players people said we were favourites for that frankly weren't fully fit.

“And then there's some who strategically, we might still pursue but would be very expensive subject to what their current clubs are expecting back from what they might have invested in the first place. So, the trouble with the whole of the window and particularly transfer deadline day, is there's a lot of rumour and speculation on social media.