Darragh MacAnthony and Peterborough United are knocking on heaven’s door!

Returning to the Championship after an eight-year absence is just the start of a grand plan for the club.

The next step is year on year growth in the second tier and beyond that...who knows? There’s no harm in dreaming.

“What we have achieved in the last 20 months given what’s been thrown at us is incredible and makes me believe we are being prepared for many good things,” MacAnthony stated.

“We certainly deserve it. We’ve had a pandemic, a promotion taken from us by points-per-game, no fans at games, floods at the stadium and yet here we are, back in the Championship, or, as I like to say, one step from heaven and the Promised Land.

“It’s exciting, but we are not going to be making the numbers up. We want to grow and make everything better at the club. We want to improve on the pitch, play better football, improve our value, improve our commercial value, improve the fan experience, basically improve everything.

“And we can. We are much better off than last time we were in the Championship when we went down with a record number of points.

“We have two new brilliant owners who have never said no to anything for a start. We also have a stronger staff, we now own our own stadium and we have improved our Academy status.

“Give us a few years and we won’t have to keep raiding the rest of the EFL for the best young talent because we will be growing our own.

“But for now we are happy to continue our policy of bringing in top young players from the lower divisions. Brentford have now left that particular stage by going up to the Premier League so will presumably need to look higher up when recruiting.

“The Championship is a tough league to predict, but we won’t be overawed and why should we be? We have just come out of a division where we were better than big clubs like Sunderland and Ipswich. We deserve to be in the Championship.

“People might call us ‘tinpot’ at this level, but that doesn’t bother me. Clubs like Luton and Barnsley have shown what’s possible with good plans.

“We are in good shape. We have recruited well and I expect us to compete.

“The likes of Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United having come down from the Premier League will be tough to beat. Apart from the £12 million spent by Fulham on Harry Wilson those clubs haven’t spent a lot of money, but they could.

“Below them Bournemouth still have a good squad, but I reckon the rest of League One us much of a muchness because of the financial issues caused by Covid.

“There will be a surprise package and I wouldn’t be surprised if Luton have a good season and I’m going for Cardiff to go up with Sheffield United and Fulham as I like Mick McCarthy and they have recruited well.

“I expect the three teams promoted from League One to do okay.

“I’m excited about the season ahead and I’m excited about the players we have signed, but I’m most excited about our fans coming back into our stadium.”

** Listen to Darragh on his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast every Wednesday morning from 6am.