Darragh MacAnthony: ‘I’m the best dealmaker outside the Premier League and I’ll make life-changing money for Posh when we return to the Championship.’

MacAnthony described himself as ‘the best dealmaker outside the Premier League’ during a recent edition of his popular ‘Hard Truth’ podcast.

He also revealed that the pandemic stopped interest from Premier League club Spurs in striker Ivan Toney earlier this year. Toney instead moved to Championship club Brentford in a deal that could be worth £10 million to Posh. The 24 year-old has been in blistering form in the second tier scoring 13 goals in 15 appearances.

“Brentford probably thought they’d overpaid for Ivan,” MacAnthony stated. “But now they probably think they’ve underpaid. Ivan doing well in the Championship was a no-brainer for me and Premier League clubs should have been falling over themselves to sign him.

“I’m blowing my own trumpet here, but I am the best dealmaker outside the Premier League. My track record proves that and if we were back in the Championship I’d be able to do deals for 20-25 million rather than 5-10 million. That sort of money would change Peterborough United for ever.

“David Pleat (former Spurs manager and now club consultant) tried hard to get Ivan to Spurs. He was in constant contact with Barry Fry over him and he spoke to Daniel Levy (Spurs owner) about him.

“David thought Ivan was a relatively cheap option to boost the Spurs squad what with all Harry Kane’s injury problems. Levy might have been worried Spurs fans would laugh at him for signing a League One player, but in any case the pandemic ruined any chance of the move going ahead.

“I have a lot of admiration for people like Pleat and Barry Fry. They watch games all the time looking for talent, something young managers and technical directors don’t bother doing these days.

“Pleat was the one who recommended Ricky-Jade Jones to Spurs.”

In MacAnthony’s 14 years at Posh, the club have made big profits on Dwight Gayle (£5.5 million plus contract add ons), Britt Assombalonga (£3.75 million plus adds on), Ryan Bennett (£3 million), Conor Washington (£2.5 million) and Craig Mackail-Smith (£2.3 million) plus several others.

Posh have not played Championship football since the 2012-13 season.