Peterborough United chairman would dump his players before he dumps his manager, but Fergie is not completely bullet-proof

MacAnthony, who was speaking on his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast before last night’s 4-0 Championship drubbing at Blackburn Rovers (November 24), insists Darren Ferguson is the right man to manage the club’s long-term project.

Hard Truth

Posh awarded Ferguson a new three-and-a-half year contract earlier this month. Since then Posh have lost twice without scoring goal and dropped into the relegation zone.

“The new contract was a signal that the owners are happy with the job the manager and his staff are doing,” MacAnthony stated. “Did I expect to be in this position in te Championship right now? No. Did I think we would be doing much better Yes? Do I attribute the blame the manger? Not fully. It’s a collective responsibility. Me, the staff, the manager and the players can do much better.

“There isn’t just one person to blame and when we start winning games and climbing the table it won’t just be down to the manager. That will also be a collective effort. We have issues at the moment which are results driven, but there are mitigating circumstances and we will put things right.

“We are not just about football in the Championship. We have a philosophy regards the way we do things, with regards to the Academy and we feel there is a right way to run a football and our manager is a massive part of that.

“The players would go before the manager. I made that mistake once before (MacAnthony sacked Ferguson in 2015 and regretted it) and I won’t be doing it again. If any players are listening, I’m saying they will go before the manager. The new contract proves that. If the players down tools they will get ‘downed’ by me.

“We are confident in the manager. He’s not bullet-poor from citicism. He isn’t beyond reproach. There will be choice words from me when we don’t play well. The manager is like every other employee of a business. He has to do his job well.

“This season hasn’t gone as well as we would have liked, but we believe the building blocks are there. We are in a good place. If we’d lost 10 games in a row since I spoke to the manager about a new contract in the summer I’d still have offered it to him because I am a man of my word. It’s not about what happens Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday it’s about the vision the partners have for the club.

“We are confident we have the right manager.”