Marcus Maddison on Peterborough United frustrations and why he prefers folk from the North

The 28 year-old ended his football sabbatical by signing for National North League side Darlington this week. He was born in nearby Durham.

And during an interview on his new club’s youtube channel Maddison opened up about life at Posh, why he prefers to live and play in the north of England and about the unusual way he attracted the attention of Darlington officials.

Maddison made 249 appearances for Posh and scored 62 goals in a six-year stay at London Road which started in 2014 following a £250k move from Gateshead. He was the team’s best player for most of that time, one with a knack of scoring great goals and providing quality assists.

Maddison moved onto Hull City, Charlton and Bolton Wanderers, but he quit professional football while on loan at the Trotters early in 2021 after becoming fed up with the grind and monotony.

Last year Maddison appealed for financial help to undergo career-saving knee surgery, but he insists he is fit and raring to go for a team who will play in the same division, two below Football League level, as Peterborough Sports FC in the coming season

"Individually it went well for me at Peterborough,” Maddison insisted. “But it was also very frustrating as we never won anything in my time there. We would be in the top six for most of a season and then fade away. It was tough to get back up for the following season after a near miss and eventually it wore me down.

"I moved on and played in the Championship for Hull, but my time at Bolton didn’t go well and I took a break from the game.

"But I’ve realised football is all I’m good at so I wanted to get back into it. For the last five months after my surgery I’ve been in the gym working hard to get in shape – I had to as I had no other job to go.

"I wanted to move up north as the people tend to be nicer and more welcoming. They don’t take themselves as seriously so I scoured a list of clubs I could go to and sent a message to Darlington on Instagram saying I was ready to get back into football and wondering if they would be interested.

"They replied the next day and here I am. I reckon I have 6-7 good years left in me and I want to play well, entertain the fans by scoring and creating goals and hopefully win something.

“As a winger/forward if you don’t score or assist in a game you haven’t done your job. I had about 170 goal contributions in 250 games (at Peterborough).

"The break from football will have done me good. I’m ready to go again.”