Peterborough United chairman to put his family before football as he hints at a less prominent role at the club

Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony will put his family before football.
Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

At the end of a season which MacAnthony described as 'humbling, disappointing and hard' following relegation from the Championship, the 46 year-old is considering a less prominent role at the club.The criticism he received from the local media and sections of the fanbase for his part in a return to League One has clearly irritated the man who has steered the club to the Championship three times in his 15-and-a-half years at the club.Speaking to the Posh media team MacAnthony said: "It's been a catalogue of errors and issues, but lady luck also deserted us. It felt like we were cursed and punished for that penalty Sammie (Szmodics) won to get us promoted! But we weren't good enough. That's factual."It's been humbling, disappointing and hard. We found the Championship was a much different animal since the last time we were there (2013). It's now a Premier League Two. We are the only team in the Championship this season not to have played in the Premier League in our history."It hurts all us. It hurts the owners and it hurts the players. They will have pay cuts, but they will still be well paid."The dark side of relegation is the hurt for the staff behind the scenes who will have paycuts as well."We will have financial issues because of relegation as there are no parachute payments for us, but it's nothing we haven't coped with before."For me, I'm now going to be putting my family before football. I've missed some key times at the end of my kids' school years and that changes now. Family is more important for me now."I'm raw right now. I've been taking it from all sides."I've had a wonderful run for 15 years. There have been highs and lows. I've had unbelievable support and unbeliavable relationships with the local media, but I sense a faction of them have turned. You get to the point where you don't want to oustay your welcome. That's what I have to inspect. You put hard yards in to get up the mountain and now I have to marry up whether I want to go up again."That's not a threat by the by the way. That's just where I am. I will still own the club, well half of it, but I have some decisions to make. I will still be around, but how involved?"I believe I am good at what I do. That's based on a body of evidence and not just on the last six months. I fundamentally disagree with those that think otherwise."We've had four seasons in the Championship in my time so 25% of my ownership has been spent there. I wanted it to be higher than 50% and maybe one day it will be."The positives from this season have been the fans, the Academy and the arrival of Grant McCann and his team."Grant and his men can't take any blame for this season. They will be judged on what they can do next season."

Posh have spent just six seasons in their entire 62 year Football League history in the second tier.