Peterborough United chairman insists his club are the template for a well-run League One club...as 'scary' powers of a football regulator become public
Chairman Darragh MacAnthony insists Peterborough United are the template for a well-run League One football club.
MacAnthony was speaking on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast in relation to the introduction of an ‘Independent Football Regulator’ (IFR) to protect and promote the sustainability and good governance of English football. The belief is clubs need protection from the trials and tribulations of Sheffield Wednesday under owner Dejphon Chansiri.
MacAnthony stresses he is not against the regulator per se, but he admits some of what he has read and heard about the body’s powers is ‘scary.’ He is keen to learn more and has suggested a representative appears on his podcast!
David Kogan OBE has been appointed as the regulator’s first Chair, with Richard Monks serving as CEO. Kogan was a controversial appointment as he had previously made donations to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
MacAnthony has made it clear on his podcast that he no fan of the ‘geniuses’ running the country because of the extra costs inflicted on his football club.
MacAnthony said: “The owners as a group are aware that Football League clubs are losing too much money, but some of what I have heard about the regulator is scary.
"I read the other day they want clubs to show they have X amount of money in the bank, not including transfers, in order to prove they can operate. If they want me to show I have 10-20 million in cash then they may as well get me to sell Peterborough. No-one has that sort of cash lying around. My money is tied up in investments, properties and businesses. but in 19 years of owning the club we have always paid the bills on time. That’s a source of pride for me.
“Peterborough does business really well. We are almost a template for how to run a League One club. We always wash our face because of our Academy, our first-team sales and because money trickles down the pyramid from us.
"Now for the regulator to say you need to do things differently because of a few s**t owners, that doesn’t sit well with me. Regardless of the size of our debt, we are a well run club. It’s unfair to now say we have to change the way we operate because of some bad apples.
"I’m sure owners who get refused a licence will challenge the decisions legally. There will be legal implications. I don’t want any headlines saying I’m anti-regulator because I’m not. I’ll sue anyone who suggests otherwise, but it all needs to be studied properly and a common sense approach will then need to be adopted.
"The League One owners have been meeting to bring down our debt. We have five or six plans to stop clubs losing so much money. We mostly all do our best to run good ships. We don’t need serious roadblocks punishing us all further.
"Our own expenditure has increased in the last two years because of local and national decisions. We were told the new party in power would be good for us, but the opposite has been true. The geniuses in charge increased National Insurance and the minimum wage so a business that is already losing money has been stuck with an extra £400k to find.”
Posh declared a profit of £2.9 million in their accounts for the year ending June, 2025. Player sales were responsible for most of that.
The Posh wage bill rose to £7.5 million in that time.
The accounts also showed just over £17.5 million of outstanding loans, down from just over £19.7 million on the previous 12 month period.
*Posh have net liabilities of £13.5 million (down from £16.6 million).
The generous financial support of MacAnthony essentially keeps the club afloat.