Source: Peterborough Today
The Posh chairman reckons the club’s low-key approach to the campaign is paying off. Posh are currently 10th in the Championship table, just two points off a play-off place.
MacAnthony said: “The fact that we were so disappointed in not at least drawing with ‘mighty’ Leeds shows how far we have come.
“In fact the manager told me after Saturday’s game that he wouldn’t swap one Leeds player for one of his own.
“We might be a small club at this level, but we are not a small team. We have players who put ambition over greed.
“The aim of our players is not to be driving Lamborghinis and Ferraris around, it’s to improve as players.
“They are very level-headed, we have no big-time Charlies and we don’t have one bad egg in the squad which is unusual, but we are very positive and confident.
“Championship teams have started to come to London Road and match the way we play. Leeds did it on Saturday and said it was because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to cope with us in midfield and that’s a great compliment to us.
“It’s still early days and there will be disappointments. There will be good days and bad days, but I’m very happy so far.
“If you win half the games and lose half the games in the Championship then you do okay. We’re taking the season in batches of 10 and we have won two out of three in the second batch.
“I wasn’t one of those talking about going second on Saturday. I’m interested in reaching 50 points and then re-assessing our situation and kicking on.
“We have been very respectful of the Championship this time. No-one wants to write about us anyway, but we have stayed out of the headlines, while fighting tooth and nail to stay at this level.
“It’s a great level to play at. The Premier League is the most exciting league, but the Championship is the hardest.
“The game against Cardiff summed up what we have been about in my time at the club.
“We were ahead then we looked like losing as we were behind with three minutes to go, but then the lads storm forward and win the game.
“That’s what we are all about.”
…but referees leave him fuming
DARRAGH MacAnthony wants referees to experience the ups and downs of promotion and relegation.
The Posh chairman took to Twitter again to express his disappointment with the officiating during his side’s 3-2 defeat by Leeds at London Road on Saturday.
As a result he could well face his second FA fine of a season just 13 matches old, but while MacAnthony will probably pay for his mistakes, he believes referees should as well.
MacAnthony, in an interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, said: “We have an elite group of referees in the Premier League so why can’t we have the same in the Championship?
“At the end of the season they could get promoted or relegated depending on how well they did. We all make mistakes in football and we all have to answer for them, but there appears to be no recourse for officials.
“The Championship is already distorted from a financial point of view so a little bit of fairness on the pitch wouldn’t go amiss. I still see a small club syndrome in evidence and anyone who has seen the recent games against Doncaster, Cardiff and Leeds will understand my frustrations.
“There are assessors watching games and I often wonder what they must be thinking.
“Darren Ferguson came and sat on the sofa in my office after the Leeds match and I had to practically resuscitate him. He was flattened by the defeat and the manner of it.
“He didn’t want to talk to the media because he knows he wouldn’t be able to tell the truth.
“I really felt for him as we’d pulled off a great comeback, time was up, it was never a free-kick and Leeds score a winning goal.
“Obviously I have to be careful because I keep getting hammered, but what am I supposed to do as an owner? Bite my lip and say nothing when I see injustices?
“In future I will go on Twitter and start everything with ‘my wife says’ and then I can’t get fined.
“I shouldn’t anyway because I see Twitter as me talking to my friends in private.
“Instead these institutions try to implement censorship and hand out fines.”