Graham Westley loved working for Darragh MacAnthony at Peterborough United, but here's why the relationship soured

Westley was asked about the best chairmen he had worked for on the 'Under the Cosh’ football podcast about his career in management.

The man who managed Posh for just seven months insisted he loved working with MacAnthony, but admitted they were both ‘too outspoken.’

Westley was a surprise appointment as manager to succeed Dave Robertson in September 2015 with Posh in 18th place in League One. Initially he was a great success as Posh charged up the table playing some great football as striker Conor Washington went on a superb scoring spree.

But Washington was sold in January and several new signings made by Westley failed. Posh slumped and were 14th when Westley was sacked following a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Scunthorpe with just two matches of the season to go.

Westley left after managing Posh to 16 wins and 18 defeats in 38 Football League matches. Posh collected 44% of the available points under Westley’s management.

Westley said: “Darragh was something else. I loved working with Darragh, but he was also really, really difficult to work with as he was so out there and he so wanted to win. He was always talking us up and always talking others down.

"He had lots and lots of opinions, but he had a good footballing brain. He had good ideas and new ideas that I hadn’t thought of and he would think hard about the way you were managing.

"He didn’t force you to do it his way, but he would chastise you heavily if you didn’t do it and you then didn’t get results.

"If, in a game, you didn’t have 30 shots, make 600 passes and 200 forward passes you wouldn’t score the goals or deliver the entertainment or achieve the level of success he wanted.

"It wasn’t in my contract as such, but those numbers were the DNA of what he expected from a manager. He just wanted to attack the opposition all the time.

"The problem with us was we were both outspoken and I probably messed the relationship up. We had worked really well together, but I overstepped the mark a couple of times. I probably challenged him too much. He would want X Y Z and I would want A B C and I would stand my ground.

"I didn’t agree with what he would want to do with certain players and if you asked him now he would probably agree with me. He was great though.

“I don’t think I was fired for results as I’d won four of my last eight games and taken the team from bottom six to top six.”

Westley has been out of football management since leaving his fourth spell at Stevenage in February, 2020.