Peterborough United chairman insists he would never leave the club in the lurch

MacAnthony was speaking in response to concern caused by comments he made on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily podcast about buying AFC Wimbledon some time in the future.

MacAnthony has said he will leave Posh at the end of this season to spend more time with his family. He has now qualified that comment.

"I was asked a hypothetical question about Wimbledon which I answered,” MacAnthony stated on the latest edition of his Hard Truth podcast.

"It was never meant as an insult to Posh or a dig at the fans. There are nuances and context to what I said.

"I’m not apologising for it. It wasn’t a slight on the club. No-one gives more to the club than me. I’ve given 17 years of my life to them.

"Of course I don’t want to leave Posh, but It wouldn’t be fair on the club If I stayed and my attention and time was 99% elsewhere.

"I'm just trying to do what’s right for me and the club. My time and focus is always at the club, dealing with stuff, sending money to pay wages, while I’m also trying to juggle getting two kids to college.

"Maybe I shouldn't speak hypothetically and from now on it will be ‘no comment.’

“I won’t go if the club are not in a healthy place. I won’t go if in my mind I need to be there. I would never leave them high and dry, not after 17 years. I’ve bled for that club.

“If Posh reached top half in the Championship I’d say my job was done.

"I do want to stay in football, but I do need a sabbatical. I need a little period to do other things.”

MacAnthony did try and buy AFC Wimbledon before he took control at Posh in 2006.

He told the BBC podcast: “I will alway have an affinity with Wimbledon as I tried to buy them once.

“I will be back in football. The day I leave Peterborough, I will come back into football and if somebody wanted to join up with me to do a Wimbledon project, then it would definitely be in my top five.

“Hypothetically it would be a yes as they would be on my list as a ‘sleeping giant gem.’”