Peterborough United chairman defends his young full-backs and the other main talking points from his 'Hard Truth' podcast

MacAnthony, who has just celebrated his 50th birthday, has been disappointed with the criticism aimed at the Posh Academy graduates during a recent run of poor form by the team. Posh go into the Thursday night game with Port Vale at London Road just four points above the relegation zone after a dreadful display in a 3-1 defeat at Blackpool last weekend.

"I know people are stressing about relegation, but I’m not,” MacAnthony said on a rare new edition of his Hard Truth podcast. “I just want us to win some games and score some goals to take us into pre-season and the next season in a positive frame of mind.

"Everyone knows there are reasons why we looked like challenging for the play-offs and yet now we are close to the relegation zone, but I don’t want our season to be defined by injuries.

"This group of players have been a bit unpredictable and we weren’t good at Blackpool. We have some home games now and it’s time to show some good signs to the fans.

"I’ve seen criticism of JD and Harley recently which is disappointing. JD made a mistake at Blackpool, but he has been playing alongside another right-back in the back four for the most part, while Harley is back after missing months because he tore his hamstring badly. Cut them some slack as they are talents who will be with us for years to come. They will have competition for their places next season though.

"I’m confident about next season as this manager hasn’t had a pre-season with us and the players need to have a pre-season with someone who will work them very hard.

"We have put together one hell of a pre-season programme which includes almost a week in Spain when we will play two games, and no matter who steps on the pitch for us we will be a threat next season because of the work the manager will put into all his players.”

Dornelly, who was 21 on Tuesday, has started 18 League One games this season, scoring one goal. Mills (20) has started 15 League One games this campaign.

Other bullet points from the podcast...

**The end of season meeting for the Posh management will take place in Miami. The chairman, CEO Dawn Gore, first-team manager Luke Williams and director of football Barry Fry are among those who will attend,

**MacAnthony described Bolu Shofowoke as a ‘generational talent.’

**Posh received letters of apology re refereeing decisions after both League One games against Stevenage this season.

**MacAnthony has a ‘Posh 2030’ plan which reduced club debt below £3 million by the end of that financial year. He repeated his recent claim that the amount of money EFL clubs are losing is ‘ludicrous.’

**The chairman said he had no regrets re his recent drunken love bombing of manager Luke Williams