Preston fine fighting strikers to refund fans for their tickets

Preston have fined Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle following their dismissals for fighting between themselves during Saturday’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday and will use the money to refund the club’s travelling fans.

Beckford and team-mate Doyle were both shown straight red cards by referee Scott Duncan in stoppage-time following an angry exchange and furious manager Simon Grayson promised disciplinary action for both players after his side’s 2-1 loss.

Preston have confirmed they will not be appealing either red card after holding their own internal investigation, while the duo have issued a joint apology.

The Sky Bet Championship club said in a statement: “After Saturday’s incident at Sheffield Wednesday, Preston North End have held an internal inquiry and can confirm that they will not be appealing the red cards issued to Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle.

“On top of the punishment they will receive from the FA for their sendings off, they have also been fined by the club for their actions.

“These fines will be used to repay all Preston North End supporters who attended the trip to Hillsborough the cost of their ticket money back.”

Both Beckford and Doyle have apologised to the club and its supporters in a joint statement.

“We apologise wholeheartedly for our actions at Hillsborough,” they said.

“Our behaviour was not acceptable in any walk of life, let alone on a football pitch.

“We let down the management, our team-mates and most importantly the supporters, who had spent a lot of money to support the team.

“We accept the punishment given to us by the club and the FA and fully support the club’s decision to refund the ticket costs to the supporters.

“We have apologised to the manager, the staff and our team-mates and hope that the supporters accept our total remorse for the incident.

“It is our intention to now put this behind us and to give our all for the benefit of Preston North End going forward.”

Grayson slammed both players after the game and said they had been an “embarrassment”.

The former Leeds and Huddersfield manager added: “The fans who travelled to Sheffield Wednesday were let down by the actions of Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle and it is only right that the fines imposed on the players are used to refund the cost of the ticket money for the fixture.

“It has been made very clear to the players and the squad as a whole that this behaviour is not acceptable by any employee of Preston North End and a swift and strong response was important.

“However, it has now been dealt with and the matter is closed.”