Preston could be the source of a takeover bid in the near future with American businessman Chris Kirchner interested in the club.
Reports broke from The Sun on Sunday, claiming that Kirchner had not only visited North End’s facilities but also watched the 0-0 draw with Huddersfield Town.
Lancs Live note that Kirchner also watched Preston’s 1-0 win over Peterborough from Los Angeles, viewing North End as an exciting opportunity.
Kirchner was interested in buying Derby County, but that didn’t happen and he now appears to be focusing on Preston.
The founder of US logistics company Slync.io, Kirchner is keen to move into football but information on his net worth is difficult to obtain.
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Fans will want to know all about Kirchner, especially if this is the man who ends up taking the reins in a post-Hemmings family era.
Derby’s administrators are a great place to start, having had plenty of dealings with Kirchner over the course of this season.
In October, Andrew Hosking of administrators Quantuma told talkSPORT that Kirchner had shown ‘more than sufficient funds’ to buy Derby.
Some Preston fans have fears that Kirchner doesn’t have the finances to run a Championship club with less-than-ideal attendances, but that stance from Hosking is massively encouraging.
Come November, Quantuma had confirmed that they had done their due diligence on Kirchner and he fulfilled ‘all initial tests’.
Fit and proper tests in football have been the subject of scrutiny for many years, with too many rogue owners manging to get into the game.
It sounds like Quantuma had no concerns about Kirchner’s character or his finances when deciding whether he was fit to run Derby.
That’s exactly what Preston fans need to hear, with Kirchner’s interest dividing opinion so far.
The bottom line is that, if Kirchner has the funds, doesn’t take loans out against the club to force through the purchase, understands the history of the club and listens to the fanbase, the American would be welcomed to Deepdale should he press ahead with a bid.