Preston season ticket sales soar

9:33am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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Preston North End look set to be backed by bumper crowds at Deepdale next season with a huge increase in season ticket sales reported by the club.

The number of season tickets sold in the first week are nearly treble the equivalent amount sold last season.

Preston fans saw a resurgence in the team's form in the last few months of the season and will be confident that boss Alan Irvine can see his side mount a promotion challenge next season.

PNE general manager Ben Rhodes said: "The response from the supporters has been magnificent.

"We sold more in the first day than we did in almost a week last year and the sales have remained high.

"We are very grateful to the financial commitment season ticket holders are making and we hope to see season ticket sales continue to rise over the next month."

The demand for tickets is especially welcome as the new Invincibles Pavilion stand is due to be completed before the first home game of next season, and will increase the capacity of Deepdale to close to 24,000.

Preston's average crowd was 13,168 for the 2007-08 season, with the highest being 17,087 for the Blackpool clash.

North End's average was the 18th highest in the division, well below many of the bigger clubs with Sheffield United having the highest average attendance of 25,631 and Norwich City the next highest with 24,555. But they were higher than Burnley (12,365) and Blackpool (8,861).

Relegated Colchester United had the lowest crowds averaging 5,509.

The overall average attendance for the Coca-Cola Championship last season was 17,022 and the Championship is now the fourth most watched league in Europe, with its total audience of 9.4m fans being bettered only by the Premiership, Germany's Bundesliga and Spain's La Liga.

Extended ticket office opening hours are currently in operation at Deepdale. The doors will be open from 9am-5pm weekdays on Saturdays, and 11am-4pm on Sundays.