Preston North End CEO Peter Ridsdale opens up on Callum Lang transfer - including how they'll pay Portsmouth and why they wanted forward so badly
There’s been plenty said about Callum Lang’s move from Pompey to Preston North End - now PNE chief executive Peter Ridsdale has provided his take on the ‘record-breaking’ transfer
Peter Ridsdale has provided a Preston North End perspective on their record-breaking move for Callum Lang in transfer deadline day.
The Lilywhites chief executive spoke to out sister paper, the Lancashire Evening Post, on Friday to reveal how their attempts to bring in the now former Pompey forward proved successful, how they will finance the move which is believed to be in excess for £2m, why they wanted the player so bad and obstacles that were hindering their attempts right up until the final hours of the transfer window.
Here’s the questions our colleague at the LEP, George Hodgson, raised with the Deepdale chief and the answers he gave - all ahead of today’s game between the clubs and a possible Lang-Pompey reunion just five days after the Fratton favourite said goodbye to the club...
Q. A club record buy might’ve surprised a lot of people. I think people went into this window thinking we're probably not going to have much money to spend. Was that always there?
Ridsdale: ‘No, in fact, if Mads (Frokjaer) hadn't gone (to Brondby) on Monday afternoon, we wouldn't have spent the money a bit later on Monday,. The record buy might be true, eventually, depending on games and things and depending on what you think we've paid for the previous record buy. But, it’s close to (it).
‘And of course, every purchase depends on payment terms. I have to say in both cases of the players we've brought in, that we have paid and committed seven-figure sums to, the payment terms are crucial in being able to do it - just as Mads going out was crucial to being able to do it. So, there's a lot of moving parts.’
“I read a lot of criticism from some supporters this week... why didn't we do all our business the first week in January. Well, would I like to? Of course, but did I know Mads was going? No. Did I know Stefan was going? No. Did I know how much somebody would cost me to bring in? No.
‘Were they prepared to sell them to us earlier in the window? No. In fact, it took till 4.30 on Monday afternoon before we finally got a deal with Portsmouth in place. So, the moving parts are complicated. And of course, even if we'd done all the business in the first week of January, somebody would have shouted at me on transfer deadline day saying, ‘Why didn't you bring anybody else in on transfer deadline day?’
‘It's all part of the equation. So, I'm happy that once the window closed, we'd brought in the players the manager wanted. And he was adamant on day one that he wanted Callum. I'm happy that we concluded the window with the players he wanted, and to make way for those players coming in, we had to find a way to bring in cash for those players who weren't playing and starting every week.’
Q. Were you always confident you would get there with Callum Lang? Or, was it real back and forth? Were you ever 50-50 thinking it might not happen?
Ridsdale: ‘If you'd have been in my office all day Sunday and all day Monday, you would have believed 90% we weren't going to get it done.
‘It was the most stressful day I've had for many a long time, partly because the manager wanted the player. Portsmouth were reluctant, very reluctant to let him go and until about 4.30, I would have guessed... I'm not even sure 50-50.’
Q. What was it about Lang that made you really push to get him in? Was it Paul Heckingbottom saying, ‘Look, I think he's going to be a massive in our attack?
Ridsdale: ‘The manager wanted him. So, my job is to try very hard to support the manager as best I can. We obviously go through a recruitment process. We identify players that we think might be available. We identify players that potentially are within our budget range.
‘Then our task is to try and get them. Do we get all of them? Not always. Do we get some of them? Of course. And in this particular case, Paul had absolutely targeted Callum as the player he wanted, given the way he likes to play and given Callum’s flexibility of positions he can play in.
‘Therefore, it was a challenge to get Callum into the building.’