Have Peterborough United missed out on a possible £25 million fee for Ivan Toney? Chairman admits failure to win promotion to the Championship would hit the club hard and he’s started legal discussions with fellow clubs and the EFL in his sights

And he remains determined to take legal action against fellow clubs and the EFL if Posh miss out because the campaign is null and voided and a straight points-per-game average is employed to determine final League One positions. In that scenario Posh would finish seventh and miss out on the play-offs.

MacAnthony also claims Posh could miss out on a huge £20-25million transfer fee on star striker Ivan Toney and would find it imposible to persuade current loan stars Sammie Szmodics and Reece Brown to sign permanently.

MacAnthony argued passionately for the rest of the 2019-20 League One season to be played out when safe to do so at a crunch meeting of EFL clubs yesterday (May 15).

But he appears to be swimming against a strong tide. League One clubs didn’t follow League Two in declaring their season over, but they are expected to agree something similar when they next meet on Monday (May 18).

MacAnthony gave interviews to talkSPORT and Posh podcast ‘The Yellow Block’ after yesterday’s meeting.

“The plan with Ivan Toney was for us to win promotion to the Championship, offer him a much better contract, watch him score 20 goals in the Championship and then he could be worth £20-£25 million,” MacAnthony said. “But that could be taken away from us without kicking another football.

“We don’t have to sell him if we don’t go up, but Ivan wants Championship football and it would hard to deny him the chance. It could be Ivan has played his last game for us.

“There isn’t going to be much money floating around in football after this is all over, but it doesn’t mean we are going to sell him on the cheap either. It doesn’t mean his value will drop to £3-£4 million. I still believe Premier League clubs will be using the transfer market differently and Ivan could be a target for them.

“We are also going to be cutting our cloth differently if we have to adopt our plan B which was based on staying in League One. Are we going to be able to sign Sammie Szmodics if we are in League One? Doubtful. And we won’t be able to get Reece Brown either because he’s on Championship wages currently.

“We will need our fans in the next two years more than ever now.

“This while business has worn me down, but we are fighting on. I have had a discussion with my lawyer and she thinks we will have a blockbuster of a case. We will take the action against clubs and the EFL if they deny us the chance to have a go at promotion.”

Posh co-owner Dr Jason Neale backed MacAnthony and the club’s stance this morning. He said: “I have spoken to Darragh and Stewart (co-owner Stewart Thompson). All is well. We fight on to the bitter end and hope fairness prevails.”