Fergie Files part two: A daft departure followed by a very happy homecoming, Adele’s part in a Peterborough United promotion, two job interviews on the same day, misery at Preston North End, why Lee Tomlin irritated his boss on the eve of the play-off final

Posh are now a Championship club and in part two Ferguson discusses a quick fall back down to earth, a shock departure and a glorious return to London Road.

Posh press officer Phil Adlam was the man listening in...

‘TWO 12 YEAR-OLDS SQUABBLING’

“The first decision we had to make after the double promotion was whether to sign more experienced players or leave it as it was.

“I decided to leave it as I felt we had the desire, ability and momentum to keep winning. It was a mistake. I was probably naive. I certainly misjudged matters.

“It was soon obvious what a huge difference the Championship was to League One. The goalkeepers, centre-backs, and the overall quality was so much better. Strikers didn’t need half a dozen chances to score like they did in League One.

“We had been used to winning so we lost confidence. The players did, I did and the chairman did.

“We realised we had got things wrong. We went for some more experienced players, but we were still Peterborough United and we had a budget. I remember going for Stoke centre-back Anthony Gardner, but the money he was on was astronomical compatred to what we paid.

“Anyway we struggled on. We did win a few games and then we had Newcastle away. They were an excellent side with Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll and others. I didn’t feel under any pressure, but the chairman came to the hotel the night before the game and travelled on the team bus to the ground which was unusual.

“We lost 3-1. We were well beaten and after the game the chairman sent me a message I found quite comical so I responded. We’d just been beaten by a top side, but there was now a separation in our relationship.

“The chairman wanted me to ring him, but I refused saying he had to ring me. We became like a couple of 12 year-olds and when I look back I realise it was so stupid. Barry Fry tried to get me to ring the chairman as did my wife, but there was no conversation before I went to work on the Monday and met with Barry and Bob Symns (chief executive).

“Bob said ‘you’re done aren’t you’ and I replied ‘yes’ and that was it. I was finished and it was a while before I spoke to the chairman again.

“Barry went on to suggest I’d been tapped up by Hull, but I hadn’t been. I’d never do that to the club. It wasn’t the way my time at the club deserved to end.”

“I SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWED MY GUT FEELING’

“After leaving the club it was such a difficult period for me. It was so hard not to look to see how Peterborough were getting on every Saturday. I used to take the dog to Rutland for three hours to get away from it all.

“There was interest in me and I ended up having interviews on the same day at Preston and Sheffield Wednesday.

“My gut feeling was to turn then both down, but then the Preston owner flew down to Sibson (airfield) and we met at the Haycock Hotel and he was a bit more positive.

“My gut feeling was still to walk away, but I agreed to join them. It wasn’t a great start as the first meeting I had with the players was in a dingy Portakabin with the squad all squashed up and I didn’t feel like I came across well.

“It was an aging squad and I felt I would struggle to get them playing how I wanted. They were experienced players on big salaries and they didn’t seem to have the motivation I was used to.

“It did become a struggle, results were inconsistent and you get a sense when you are just one bad result away from the chop. In my case we lost to Hull. Phil Brown did commentary on the game and seven days later he had my job.

“Preston chairman Maurice Lindsay came to my house to deliver the bad news and I left that rented house exactly one year after I moved in.”

’MANY HAPPY RETURNS’

“Not long after leaving Preston Darragh MacAnthony came on the phone and invited me for coffee. It was the first time we’d spoken since I left Peterborough.

“I caught the train to London and Darragh’s chaffeur took me to the chairman’s home. We embraced and he quickly got down to business by asking me back to Posh. Gary Johnson had gone and I said ‘fine, let’s do it’.

“It was unusual to take over at a club who could still get promoted, but our plans matched and we agreed we needed 17 wins to get automatic promotion.

“I knew most of the players which helped, but the fact I’d had success here before didn’t mean I would be successful again. The fans were understandably unsure about me coming back so I felt I had plenty to prove.

“I didn’t know all the staff though so I rang George Boyd up and he told me Mark Robson was an excellent coach with a great grasp for detail. He was excellent at setting up set-pieces. I had to win goalkeeping coach Barry Richardson over as I’d turned him down for a job before and he felt I hadn’t explained my decision very well, but he stayed and he was very good. Kevin Russell came back with me,

“I watched a game against Brentford the night before I took the job. Posh played a 4-2-3-1 system with Lee Tomlin wide right and Ryan Bennett wasn’t even in the side.

“One of my first thoughts was Grant McCann wouldn’t be effective in a two-man midfield and in my first game at Brighton he ended up getting sent off late on.

“In that game we were 3-0 down early in the second half and I switched to a midfield diamond with Grant at the base. “George was the number 10 and I played Tomlin further forward. Grant now had legs either side of him in Tommy Rowe and James Wesolowski and we ran all over Brighton for 25 minutes.

“The players loved the system and I knew it would bring us goals and we started flying up the table. Grant had never played in that position before, but it suited hime perfectly. He was a big signing for Peterborough and I had to get the best out of him.

“A play-off place was secured, but automatic promotion was out of reach and I started experimenting towards the end of the regular season for no other reason that I was a bit bored! The chairman and Barry Fry started to fret, but I told them we would be ready for the play-offs and that I was just experimenting with other formations in case we needed to use them.”

DUFFING UP THE DONS WITH ADELE’S HELP

“I was delighted we were paired with MK Dons in the play-off semi-finals. I felt our system troubled them and their manager Karl Robinson was, like me, too stubborn to change his philosophy. We had their number a bit, but we’d still have to play well.

“I played Tomlin on the right in the first leg at their place as I wanted him up against Dean Lewington and I played Nathaniel Mendez-Laing down the middle. We scored early and I felt we were in business, but we became very sloppy and things started to go very wrong.

“We lost Gaby Zakuani and Joe Lewis to injury before half time, we lost a sloppy goal, Charlie Lee was sent off and we were soon 3-1 down.

“They were battering us and Sam Baldock, who was on fire for MK that season, then went clean through and missed a sitter before Mark Little went on a 60-yard run to win a penalty which led to a red card for their best player Stephen Gleeson, a midfielder I had twice tried to sign for Posh.

“Grant stuck away the penalty and I said to the lads afterwards that Grant’s goal would win us the tie.

“But I decided we needed a motivational video to get us over the line in the second leg and I was listening to an Adele album one night and ‘One and Only’ came on.

“I listened to it again and again and the lyrics seemed perfect for what I wanted to say.

“I’d never done anything like this before, but the media guys at the club did a great job putting it together and when we showed it to the players it did the trick.

“In fact my only concern was they’d become too emotional! “We played the song over a montage of some great moments and the players loved it. They flew out of the dressing room that night and blew MK Dons away.

“We didn’t plan to show it again before the final, but the players wanted to see it once more and it worked again.

“It was a very powerful video.”

“We tweaked things a little tactically for the second leg against MK by pushing the full-backs (Grant Basey had taken Charlie Lee’s place) right up on their wide players to force them to the outside and it worked a treat.

“I told the players the first goal was crucial and if it took 75 minutes then so be it. but we were dominant from the kick off.

“McCann, who was always brilliant in the biggest games, scored a free kick early on and we could easily have won 6-0 rather than 2-0. Even MK were surprised how good we were.

“There was just one scare when MK broke away from a free kick of ours on the edge of their box, but Wesolowski made a tackle that won us the game as much as the goals we scored.”

JUBILATION AT OLD TRAFFORD

“There was a 10-day gap to the final at Old Trafford, but we moved to quickly to secure a decent hotel, The Marriott, as the chairman said I could have whatever I wanted.

“I then rang my dad to see if we could train at (Manchester United’s training ground) Carrington for three days and of course he agreed.

“The preparation was important and we visited Old Trafford two days before the game. The groundsman asked me how I wanted the pitch and I said ‘as quick and slick as possible’ so we had certain advantages.

“It was then it really hit me that we were playing at Old Trafford, a place that meant so much to me. I’d played there and seen success there with my dad.

“The day before the game we watched the League Two play-off final at Old Trafford and then we watched the Champions League Final, Barcelona v Manchester United.

“Mark Little watched that game in his full Man Utd kit, but Lee Tomlin was bouncing around winding me up as United got beat. He really p***** me off so I went to bed early. I woke up the next morning and just thought ‘this is it, let’s go. “We then received a boost from the Huddersfield team sheet. Jordan Rhodes had been flying all season for them. He had scored 30 goals, but he was on the bench.

“I waved the teamsheet at the players and said ‘they are clearly petrified of us, they want to stop us playing’.

“They played 4-3-3 which suited us. I played the same team which beat MK Dons which meant Basey instead of Charlie Lee and I was worried how Charlie would take the news.

“But he said he would have done the same which was a mark of what a man Charlie was. I was pleased he came on for half an hour.

“The game itself wasn’t great. Both teams had good periods. Gaby Zakuani and Bennett were outstanding at the back and when ‘Rowey’ finished off Grant’s brilliant free kick and we scored a second straight from the kick off we were home and dry.”

SUPER POSH FANS

“I had to win the fans back over when I returned and the players helped me do it by delivering some fantastic performances.

“And when we reached the play-offs the fans took their support up to another level.

“When we turned up at MK Dons for the first leg of the semi-final it looked like thousands of Posh fans were already waiting for us.

“The reception we received as we stepped off the bus was a real goosebumps moment. I got a lift and so did the players.

“We had to come from behind in the second leg, but in the atmosphere our fans delivered we were never going to fail. That was the best atmosphere I’ve ever known at London Road. It was unbelievable and the celebrations on the pitch afterwards were something else.

“It was the same in the final at Old Trafford. Huddersfield came to that game as favourites. They had certain expectations. They brought 40,000 fans and they hadn’t lost a game for about four months.

“But you’d never have known any of that, the way our fans performed.

“The players reacted. I was calm after the first two goals went in, but after the third goal it was bedlam on the sidelines. I think Grant McCann jumped over my head in excitement. The players, the staff and the fans went berserk just as it should be.

“It was just great that we could share such a special moment with these superb fans.”

Fergie Files part 3 next week