Ablett & Irvine Deny Baker Rumour

Both County and Preston North End bosses Gary Ablett have played down a strong rumour that Carl Baker has signed for the Championship club.

Rumours have been growing recently that Baker has actually signed for the Lilywhites, though Ablett and former Everton assistant Alan Irvine have spoke out to play down the rumour.

Irvine, speaking to pneonline.com, said: ‘Carl Baker isn’t a player I’m after.

‘I’m aware of him because he used to play for Southport and I live there, so I often used to read about him in the local paper.

‘He then went to Morecambe and they sold him to Stockport last season.

‘Stockport are a team we go to watch quite a lot, we try to cover all the clubs in the region to see what is out there.

‘Some good players have come out of Stockport in recent seasons, so we do keep an eye on them.

‘We went to watch Anthony Pilkington there a number of times last season, but I didn’t feel the lad was quite what we needed and he’s since gone to Huddersfield.

‘I would say we have our representatives at clubs such as Bury, Rochdale and Stockport half-a-dozen times a season.

‘Whoever they play, we can look at their players too.

‘I’ve been to games myself, and sometimes when that happens people put two and two together and get five.’

And Ablett backed this up today by speaking to County’s Official website.

He said: ‘I’ve heard the rumours about Preston being interested in Carl.

‘However, I know Alan Irvine [Preston manager] personally. I know him very, very well and consider him as a friend and someone I would look to for advice.

‘Until Alan calls me and asks about Carl then I don’t believe the rumour is true.’

So no news yet then.

Until Baker signs for Preston in five minutes and makes me look like a fool!