Darren Ferguson pulled out of a big job interview to return to Peterborough United, but will he stay beyond the end of this season? And how a Posh legend reacted to the news

But MacAnthony is not convinced Ferguson will stay on at Posh even if he succeeds in winning his fifth promotion with the club this season.

MacAnthony made his mind up to sack Grant McCann after watching his side’s 3-0 home humbling at the hands of Wycombe Wanderers on New Year’s Day. Co-owner Dr Jason Neale agreed with the decision and the wheels were set in motion to find a replacement once MacAnthony had met with McCann and his assistant Cliff Byrne to deliver the bad news face-to-face.

MacAnthony had five candidates in mind, but he also sounded out Ferguson, a man he had appointed to the role three times before, and when he heard the 50 year-old had an interview lined up at a rival club – believed to be Portsmouth who sacked Danny Cowley earlier this week - the chairman made his move.

"Seeing Darren at a potential promotion rival in League One didn’t sit well with me,” MacAnthony revealed on his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast on Wednesday evening.

"They are a big club with bigger crowds than us. If he’d gone for that interview I believe he would have got that job. He turned down a couple of good jobs in the summer because of ownership structures.

"I left the Wycombe game 10 minutes before the end and I knew then I needed to make a change. I spoke with Jason the following day and we both reluctantly agreed it had to happen.

"I had a list of five candidates, but getting a new manager in January is difficult if not impossible. We could afford to pay a £50k release clause for example, but it’s doubtful the managers I would want would leave their clubs mid-season.

"I asked a mate of Darren’s if he would be interested in coming back and I was told he was willing to have a conversation and we did.

"And when I thought about it, it just struck me as a no-brainer as I would be hiring a multiple promotion winner from League One who knows the club and the players, and who would be able to work night and day as he still lives locally. Why would anyone not want a re-energised Darren Ferguson back at a club where he has been so successful?

"Darren wanted to make it a short-term appointment and we agreed that would be the best fit for all parties. He should never have left us the last time. We hadn’t given him the tools to be successful in the Championship which can happen at a club of our size, but he should have stayed and tried to get us back up. He’s an emotional man though and he felt he wasn’t getting the best out of the players.

"I still want us to be promoted this season. We are an ambitious club that wants Championship football. We went through the club’s positions on and off the field and I asked Darren if he felt promotion was achievable and he said it was.

"But even if he gets us up again I’m not sure he would stay. I get the impression he wants to try something different, but that’s for the future. For now he’s in charge for 22 games and we need to start winning again. Once that happens things will calm down off the field. I need the team to be winning and then I can get on with the stuff off the field that, when it happens, will excite the club’s fans. Poor performances and results have undermined what I’ve been trying to do off the pitch.

"I’m disappointed with some of the stuff aimed at me on social media since we made the decision. Aaron Mclean saw some of it and rang me to ask ‘who in their right mind wouldn’t want a re-energised Darren Ferguson in charge of those players?’. He reckoned it was the perfect scenario and he was someone who was once sacked as a coach by Darren!

"I have to say Grant and Cliff took the news in classy fashion by thanking me for the opportunity. It was important to me to look them in the eye to tell them as too often I’ve been in the States when managers have left and I don’t feel comfortable letting people go in those circumstances.

"I gave Grant and Cliff and everything they wanted, but it just didn’t work out. It always hurts when you let good men with families leave, but it’s the old cliche of football being a results business. They have been compensated financially and they will be back in work within five minutes.

“We have kept the rest of their staff on.”

McCann was 11 months into a two and a half year contract at London Road.