Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson knows he’s getting ‘slaughtered’ on social media, but he won’t walk away from the fight and he’s urged high-earning players to stop hiding behind him

Ferguson is aware he’s been getting ‘slaughtered’ on social media after Posh picked up just one point from their last six games, a run that climaxed with a horrible performance and a 4-0 defeat at Cardiff City on Wednesday. Many fans called for the manager’s head after the game claiming the players are no longer playing for him.

But Ferguson is adamant he won’t be walking away from a relegation fight and he retains the support of the club’s ownership.

And he has challenged his players - some of whom are paid far more than the manager - to start shouldering responsibility for their displays.

Ferguson delivered a scathing post-match assessment of the Cardiff game calling it ‘humiliating and a complete embarrassment for the club.’

“Everything thing I said after Cardiff still stands,” Ferguson said. “I’m not on social media, but I’m fully aware I’m getting slaughtered which is fine as that’s the nature of the game.

“If I had watched that game at Cardiff as a fan I’d have thought the players had gone. I haven’t lost the dressing room, but the players need to start taking responsibility for their performances.

“It’s as simple as that. They need to start showing the fight required to stay in the Championship. I’m putting it on them a bit, but it can’t just be about me or the chairman. It’s also about a grouo of players showing they want to stay in this league,

“Some of the players get paid a lot more than me, but I’m here for the reason of keeping us in the Championship. The players can’t keep hiding behind me.

“The easiest thing for me to do would be to walk away. Indeed some people want me to, but I want to stay and fight to keep this club up. We worked so hard to get here and we still have a great chance of staying up.

“This is the players’ careers. I’ve had mine. I will still back then and support them, but they need to stand up for themselves. They need to show their mettle. They need to show their character. It was men against boys at Cardiff and it wasn’t nice to see.

“Any manager in any division will tell you there are simple rules to winning a match. You get the basics right. You win tackles, win aheaders and outrun your opponents. That happened last week against QPR, but it didn’t happen against Cardiff.

“It’s another tough game against Preston. They are going really well under Ryan Lowe, but we have shown at times this season that we are capable of beating good sides, certainly at home.

“We have to find a performance that can win us the game on Saturday and then move onto Wednesday. If we fall behind we need to show some mettle and character to get back into the game.”