PRESTON North End will float more shares in a bid to raise £7.5 million to complete the redevelopment of Deepdale, strengthen the first team and invest in the youth development programme.

The exact amount raised will depend on the number of shares applied for by fans and investors.

The issue will see shares at £2.40, sold in blocks of 100 or more.

Club chairman Bryan Gray said: "Since 1995, we have achieved a great deal together.

"We have achieved what we set out to do -- promotion, firstly from Division Three, and more recently from Division Two.

"We are now in Division One for the first time in 20 years.

"The board and David Moyes would like to build upon this and invite supporters and the local community to support our plans."

Chief executive Tony Scholes added: "We are raising the money to assist in carrying out our plans for the club. "The team are playing at their highest level for 30 years, the squad is arguably the most valuable it has ever been, and the club has been established on firm foundations.

"We want to continue to improve each year, we want to build a squad which, under David Moyes, will continue that process of improvement and build a stadium which the supporters of North End and the people of Preston can be proud of."

All season ticket holders have been written to by the club informing them of the share flotation.

Anyone successfully applying for shares will be entitled to a string of benefits at Deepdale.

Subscribers will get priority entitlement to tickets and the right to have their names included in the Millennium Investors Register, to be displayed at Deepdale recording the club's thanks to them.

And a discount of ten per cent on club merchandise from the shop or over the Internet will also be on offer.

Anyone subscribing for 15,000 New Ordinary Shares or more will qualify for a free Great Room dining ticket for every home game next season.

Since the club was floated in 1995, North End has seen a lot of activity.

Along with the two championship trophies, North End has created a Centre of Excellence to nurture first team players, developed the group's commercial activities and broadened its commercial base.

The 8,000-seater Sir Tom Finney Stand was built at a cost of £4.5 million and the 6,000-seater Bill Shankly Kop was built at a cost of £2.6 million.

The club was also selected as the location for the National Football Museum, which is due to open, after a series of delays, in December.