Peterborough have signed former Doncaster Rovers defender Niall Mason on a two-year contract.
Mason was a member of the Doncaster squad that won League Two promotion under current Posh boss Darren Ferguson in 2017. The versatile twenty-two-year-old made twenty League One appearances for Rovers in 2018/19 before the South Yorkshire club sacked him following a guilty plea in a sexual assault case resulted in Mason receiving a six-month suspended jail sentence and a place on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
Once touted as the next David Beckham when he joined Real Madrid at the age of seven, Mason joined Rovers in 2016 where Ferguson handed him his first-team debut.
Mason will add versatility to the Peterborough squad being able to operate in both full-back positions as well as a centre-back and in midfield.
Speaking to the club’s official website the Posh boss acknowledged some fans might view the signing as controversial but added: ‘Obviously the boy has made a massive mistake, but I do believe he deserves another chance.’
Peterborough fans soon took to social media to react to the signing with many not so forgiving as the club’s manager with some criticizing the Posh for making the signing.
Others did react with the willingness to give their new player another chance.
Some Doncaster Rovers fans also lept to the player’s defense.
Here is a selection of their responses to the signing on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Liamutp/status/1136914178239868928
https://twitter.com/ahuffo/status/1136914163790430209
https://twitter.com/PUFCforlife/status/1136914588304363521
https://twitter.com/pday29/status/1136919437783773187
https://twitter.com/jkwainman/status/1136919592281001989
https://twitter.com/jkwainman/status/1136920601376022528
https://twitter.com/JazzaCito/status/1136919267700563968
https://twitter.com/washlandsPosh/status/1136926695448031232
https://twitter.com/w4wilcox/status/1136924835550978050
https://twitter.com/DPMG81/status/1136912571229966337
I think he has had a bad deal from his legal team some times its not always right to plead guilty when other things could have been said.If he was guilty 100% why did he say it was not brought up.Give him another chance,some people are being let out of prison that are bad and should not have been let out,He should be aloud to give his side without any come backs.
I get why Peterborough have signed him. He is versatile and a good player. However the problem I have is he said it himself he knew he would get another chance. Would Joe ordinary i
If they had done the same thing? Personally I would be struck off in my line of work.It is everything that is wrong with professional football. HE is a sex offender and the message they are sending out is you can get away with anything if you have the talent. That is wrong in every way.