The American has now turned his attention back to Derby and appears to be in talks with the administrators over buying the East Midlands club. It is unclear exactly what happened in negotiations with Preston.
Several weeks ago it appeared that Kirchner had met the board's asking price so he was allowed to enter into a stage of due dilligence whereby he was given exclusive access to all areas of the club's finances.
It appears that during that period there were concerns and Kirchner has decided not to pursue a deal with Preston. It is unclear whether the admiminstrators at Derby have swayed him.
It is true that following due dilligence parties can renegotiate the price of the deal once they are aware of the full financial situation of the club. That would not be unusual but it is unclear what has happened here.
Kirchner has left a cryptic message on Twitter over the situation. It also emerged that the main sticking points may have been around the training ground at Euxton, the academy training ground at Springfields and the land marked for a training ground at Ingol.
Negotiations are obviously confidential and we may never know whether the issues were valid and could have been resolved but for now Preston are still effectively looking for investment.