Mick

Place or palace?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/preston/8683899.stm Preston given winding up petition Championship side Preston have been served with a winding up petition by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. A statement from the Deepdale club said it had received the petition following the failure to pay certain liabilities. The company's ordinary shares will be suspended from trading from 17 May pending financial clarification. On Thursday, North End borrowed a further £550,000 from leisure tycoon Trevor Hemmings to "meet the cost of players' wages due this month". The cash injection took Hemmings's investment in the Deepdale club to £13.82m including interest. The Lancashire club, who were one of the 12 founding members of the Football League, are considering their available options and will make a further announcement soon. They finished the season in 17th place under manager Darren Ferguson, the son of Manchester United boss Sir Alex.

That will be worth seeing if it happens.

Capital outlay can mean paying over time but it can also mean paying for something immediately and I know that having been in the position of purchasing from a capital budget.

They haven't categorically ruled out the purchase of any new players, they have categorically ruled out "new capital outlay on players." That means we're capable of bringing in players on loan or free transfers if they stick to what they've said.

The common sense you mention reads more like clutching at straws.

That's what I said.

I'm sure Ashley has put in £25.5 million during this financial year, he might have to put in more before it comes to a close but I doubt it.

I don't think we'll make enough money for him to do that if we're hanging around the lower reaches of the league or if we get relegated again.

The timing of when he said he'd put £20 million in doesn't mean that he hadn't planned to do so before that date.

"Why does ashley not learn from lessons learnt?" That's as clear as the statement.

I can only guess that breaking even means without any cash input from Ashley. I don't have any problem with that as most clubs are going to have to work like that if they intend to play European football. If we are expected to get to that position without any investment in new players then I can only see it failing.

£20 million a year only adds up to £60 million, he's already put in much more than that.

The current debt is unmanageable but the only way to control it will be by remaining in the Premiership. The statement released by the club isn't going to persuade anybody to buy a season ticket if they were in two minds before its release. Very few are going to put money into the club if they think its going straight into Ashley’s bank account. He's put money in and will want it back but that shouldn't be done at the expense of team strengthening. It looks like they haven’t learned any lessons from relegation and they are quite prepared to once again take a risk with our league status, morons.

It would appear not.

I think it's as much the way they say it as what they actually say.

A fair few would like to know that if you manage to find the answer.

On the same day that the Premiership title will get most of the back pages.

Good point.

So when you say "They're defending it. Unbelievable." You actually mean one person was depending it? I thought that they're was short for they are, they meaning "people" and by that more than one. Come on then, name and shame so that they can defend themselves.

Your reply made it look as if everybody was until you later corrected it, I'm not saying you meant it that way but it was taken that way by more than one person.

It doesn't say that and it would have been just as easy for them to say that if it's what they meant, it would have also been a lot less confusing.

"I just don't know what to say, I mean... I just... words fail me. I'm sure the pricks on N-O are loving this latest genius stroke of the Ashley masterplan to make NUFC a global force within this next 5 year plan." You replied: "They're defending it. Unbelievable."

In the statement they say "There is no plan for new capital outlay on players." That basically rules out spending on new players if they are to stick to that unless they are prepared to spend what is still outstanding from previous player sales. If they meant they wouldn’t borrow to finance player purchases then that is what they should have said, they didn't say that.