Peterborough United manager urges fans not to 'annihilate' Joel Randall when he returns to the squad

Randall was dramatically left out of the 3-2 League One defeat at Birmingham City last weekend after Ferguson became frustrated with his attitude in training, something the boss made public after the game at St Andrew’s. The 24 year-old played in the under 21s at Barnsley on Tuesday rather than at Wigan in a League One fixture.

Fergie reveals Randall decision.

He is not expected to be involved when Stevenage visit the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday, but Ferguson has certainly not written off Randall’s career at the club even though the player declared he was now unhappy at London Road just weeks after signing a new deal.

Ferguson said: "I was asked the question about Joel after the Birmingham game and I felt I had to be transparent as he was always going to play at Barnsley on Tuesday. Obviously by doing that I opened up the opportunity for everyone to have an opinion, but I don’t believe that is a reason to annihilate him.

"Mistakes have been made, but these things can be sorted out. I’ve dealt with these sorts of things before, but usually in house and people outside the club wouldn’t have known about them. I can’t bring him back after a couple of defeats as I need to show some consistency in my decisions as a manager and a leader. The standard of the player can’t matter. It can be rectified, but we will have to wait and see if that happens before Saturday.”

Randall was a million pound signing from Exeter in June, 2021 and made no impact for two seasons before enjoying a strong 2023-24 campaign which prompted League One rivals Bolton Wanderers to make multiple bids for him.

Randall scored twice in the second League One game of the season at Shrewsbury, but has contributed very little in other games. He was dropped to the substitutes’ bench for the 2-2 draw at Leyton Orient before falling out with Ferguson later that week.