Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has stated that he will not change the club’s recruitment policy despite suffering a poor campaign in League One.
The Cambridgeshire-based side entered this season having achieved back-to-back play-off places and were widely expected to challenge in the upper reaches of the table again. However, they endured a summer of change in their playing staff and find themselves in an unlikely battle to remain in the division.
Posh have been widely praised for their transfer model over the years. They have bought smart from the lower divisions before selling big, with the likes of Harrison Burrows, Ronnie Edwards and Ephron Mason-Clark having all attracted big fees over the past 12 months.
MacAnthony Won’t Panic
Their poor form has led to some sections of the fanbase urging MacAnthony to invest heavily this month in order to secure their third tier status. The chairman isn’t going to panic in the wake of a poor six-month period though, saying on his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast that the model they have will remain in place. Via Peterborough Today, he said:
“We can’t be clouded by one bad six-month period and just change the way we recruit. We have to stick to our guns and continue to do what we’ve been good at. I’ve been doing this for 19 years and you don’t become bad at recruitment overnight.
“We can’t become gun-shy because we have had some bad results. As Barry Fry said to me the other day we are still getting bids of millions for our players even though we are 18th in League One. That suggests the recruitment has been good.
“There was a deal to be done for a non-league player this month, but we didn’t move and he went to a top-eight Championship club. We need to reawaken the beast and back our judgement.
“The plan remains to finish this season strongly and have a real go at the top end of the table next season. We’ve signed well this month with the three new defenders and a striker who we believe will be a top player for us. Maybe they could all stay at the club for longer.”
Writer’s View
Peterborough perhaps were given a big wakeup call when they lost 5-1 to Lincoln City last weekend. Their players responded in excellent fashion on Tuesday night by beating Wigan Athletic, ending a run of eight games without a win. They’re still in the relegation conversation but they have a better squad than all of the teams below them. MacAnthony has written this season off and doesn’t appear concerned about the threat of relegation. Instead, it appears as if the focus is already on next season.
