A British wrestling legend and WWE superstar has ruled on his beloved Championship club’s Premier League future. WWE commentator Wade Barrett is a die-hard supporter of Preston North End. The club has never played in the Premier League and was last in the top flight in the 1960/61 season – long before Barrett was born. But that hasn’t stopped the 44-year-old, whose real name is Stu Bennett, dreaming big.
And when asked what the club, currently sitting 20th in the Championship, needed to do to gain that elusive promotion, the former five-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and ex-King of the Ring told the Daily Star via AceOdds: “I think it’s one thing and that one thing is a bit of luck because . . . there is a massive disparity in the finances of teams in the championship. So, Preston North End is one of the lowest-funded teams in the division.
“It’s very difficult for us to do what the likes of Sheffield United, Sunderland or Leeds might be able to do. They’ve got massive financial clout compared to PNE.
“They can essentially buy their way into the Premier League, where they’re buying players at 10 times the record price that PNE have ever paid for a player. And we’re just not fighting on a level playing field. What Preston need is a little bit of luck.
“So, when we go out in the summer and we buy four players for a combined £2million these are probably going to be kind of rough diamonds, shall we call it. We think this guy has a lot of potential, it might take a couple of years, but if everything goes perfectly, this guy could be a star. “Now we need three or four of those.”
(Image: Youtube/pnefcofficial)
The current ownership of PNE is the Hemming Family Trust, although they were widely reported earlier this year to be working with bankers to look at other possible ownership avenues for the club.
In terms of finance, the club’s record signing was Milutin Osmajic, who joined in the 2023/24 season for around £2million – a whopping 0.18% of the overall British transfer record of Enzo Fernandez’s £106.8m valuation when he moved from Benfica to Chelsea in January 2023.
However, it’s not all about money, Wade said: “If we can get players cheaply who all come good in the next couple of years and turn into some of the best players in the league, that is going to be how PNE goes up.
(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
“It’s always a long shot, but you’ve got to keep rolling the dice and trying this. I think we saw it with Brentford a few years ago, that was kind of how they got themselves up into the Premier League. And then once you’re in the Premier League, the funds go up through the roof and now you’re in that kind of golden circle of teams that can start buying better players – so that has to be the game plan for PNE.
“It’s just a little bit of luck. You’ve got to have lightning in a bottle, I suppose, and get those right players at the right time because there’s just no other way to do it with a club with PNE’s financing.
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