Darragh MacAnthony's mission and why Hector Kyprianou should have been sold last summer
Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony is on a mission to confound the club’s critics.
MacAnthony insists he and his management staff are seething with an 18th-place finish in League One – the worst third tier performance in the chairman’s 19 years at the club – but they are all committed to inspiring an immediate improvement.
MacAnthony admits everyone behind the scenes under-performed, even if a glut of key injuries did hinder a frustrating season, one only partly saved by a second successive EFL Trophy win at Wembley.
“If the staff all took lie detector tests we would all admit we under-achieved last season,” MacAnthony insisted. “We all need to be better, including me. I applauded all the staff at the end of the previous season. They had all the plaudits back then and rightly so, but my message now is that we have to get back to those levels. There can be no complacency.
"We are all on the same page. No-one at the club is happy. If players think scoring 10 goals and getting 10 assists mean they believe they have had a good season, they are wrong. Not when the team has finished 18th.
“We will be better from this summer onwards. I don’t necessarily want to prove people wrong, but I want to respond to all the stuff that’s been said. There have been no accolades from me just because we avoided relegation. We finished 18th and we should not be an18th-placed team.
"We made mistakes we won’t make again. We shouldn't have given new contracts to players who wanted to leave and who ended up leaving anyway. We should have sold Hector Kyprianou and used the money to buy two new midfielders. Instead we became fearful of losing our captain and one of the best midfielders in League One. We were concerned with what our fans would say.
"It didn’t help the dressing room which is not a criticism of the players themselves, but as a club we now have to paint the best portrait of ourselves and get back to our best.
"The beauty of football is how quickly football changes. Oxford finished 19th and the following season they were promoted.”