Happy Days: Ferguson and MacAnthony
Peterborough United Chairman Darragh MacAnthony has released an extraordinary statement criticizing the staff at his club for “greed, skullduggery, tapping up and disloyalty from within”. MacAnthony calls the rant his last and apologizes for the position the club finds itself in.
The tapping-up part of the rant is also aimed at ex-boss and current Preston NE gaffer, Darren Ferguson, who MacAnthony claims has been trying to sign his players behind his back.
“Every week brings another drama and it usually involves an ex-manager, a current team member and the promise of bigger wages followed by a derisory £100k bid and all this after the player has been unsettled and offered terms behind our back.”– Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony.
But it’s not just ‘ex-managers’ who were in for an ear bashing, as MacAnthony’s statement also pointed to current employees as the cause of what appears to be a heck of a mess:
“The team spirit from the last two years has nearly been destroyed by greed, skullduggery, tapping up and disloyalty from within and this has all occurred over the last 120 days or so, nonstop and is eating away at our inner core.”
The online bitching session answers some of the questions that fans have been asking, and covers a lot of topics from fingering the players for playing ‘hoof ball’ and not listening to management to blaming the referees!
“They are the worse standard of Refs I have ever seen in my life”.
Peterborough find themselves 9 points adrift at the bottom of the Championship table today and host Ferguson’s new team Preston tonight. So is the screed more of a war cry to fans to point the blame at Ferguson for Peterborough’s position? Or is MacAnthony fed up with some serious in fighting at his club?
Posh manager, Mark Cooper: Ignored voice.
I reckon it’s a bit of both. He says that the club has been subject to ‘tapping up and disloyalty’ for 120 days; That’s around the time that Fergie Jr left Peterborough but he didn’t tap any one up as he didn’t have a job until taking over at Preston just 20 days ago.
As chairman of the football club, MacAnthony has to either act or shut up, and I don’t see this rant as any more than excuses to the fans for complete failure. They hired a new manager after Darren Ferguson left yet they still suck, and excuses won’t work with supporters who are about to see their club relegated to League One.
I’m sure the players will also feel annoyed at the chairman’s written ramble, which points fingers at everybody but himself:
“I am done with defending the players, previous management, current management and everyone else at the football club top to bottom. Nobody has been good enough this season and we have failed our fans in the worst possible way and this has resulted in us being bottom of the league and heading for League One in a hurry”
As the top man, MacAnthony can do as he chooses. If he really believes that his players and staff are at each other’s throats and plotting moves away then he should help them do that and bring in hungry, eager players that want to be there. But he won’t as this rant is more out of frustration, and just points out the chairman’s inability to stabilize or control his own club. The timing of the comments aimed at Ferguson are also clearly designed to rile up supporters ahead of his return to London Road. If the chairman thinks that his rage will inspire the players to push on and save themselves from relegation he is strangely mistaken. One thing is for sure, once rot sets in at a football club the only thing that can save it is wholesale change.
It will be interesting to see if any changes take place at Peterborough; it may be too late to stop the rot this season but after relegation there will be no excuses for clearing house and building again.
While I understand MacAnthony’s frustration, it’s his club and he should take care of his business without airing his laundry in public, though what dirty laundry it is!
