Efforts to retain the National Football Museum's (NFM) public galleries in Preston, Lancashire, have failed after trustees were unable to reach agreement with the local authority.

The attraction was unable to meet Lancashire County Council's (LCC) requirements to enter into a partnership that would have enabled the galleries to remain open beyond 30 April. NFM's research facilities and the National Football Collection are set to stay in Preston, with a new home for the National Football Museum currently being developed at Manchester's Urbis centre.

However, trustees have not ruled out the possibility of future talks on the development of a new NFM in Preston once the relocation to the Urbis centre is completed. Paul Dermody, chair of the NFM trustees, said: "We are obviously disappointed that negotiations with Lancashire County Council have reached an end. We had hoped to be able to meet their requirements so they could work with us in partnership.

"But we now have to focus on the exciting future that the National Football Museum will develop in Manchester that will benefit even more people and safeguard the collections long-term." Image: The NFM's new Manchester home will be at the Urbis centre - Daniel Hopkinson