Peterborough United turned down 'serious' deadline day bids for recent signings, Premier League clubs chasing Academy kids, praise for Wrexham FC

He also disclosed there have been £500k bids from Premier League clubs for two 14 year-old Posh Academy players.

A new edition of the chairman’s award-winning ‘Hard Truth’ podcast dropped on Wednesday evening and naturally events in the final hours of the Winter transfer window were discussed at length.

MacAnthony also admitted he ‘nibbled’ at bringing a young striker to London Road with a view to loaning him straight back to his current club

And he praised the owners and officials at Wrexham FC for their help in cancelling centre-back Tom O’Connor’s Posh loan because of a season-ending injury. Posh took on Jacob Mendy’s contract as part of that agreement.

MacAnthony, who claimed Posh have spent over £6 million in the past three-and-a-half-transfer windows, insisted there was a club consensus not to make any signings in January. It was a decision that left the chairman feeling ‘liberated.’

"We want to be very measured in the way we operate,” MacAnthony said. “And there was a consensus between me, the manager, Barry Fry and the recruitment team not to spend in this window.

"That was not a financial decision. Signing a player for the sake of it made no sense to us.

"We had serious bids for two players who we were never going to sell because they are pivotal to our future. We only signed them in the summer. We’ve also had £500k bids from Premier League clubs for two 14 year-olds.

“We have spent £6.2 million in the last three-and-a-half windows and that doesn’t include loan players, but the latest window was about reducing the number of players on the training ground, of reducing wastage.

“I always back a manager, but he is so happy with what we have. He loves our Academy players. There were a million Premier League youngsters available, but we have our own players like that. Why should they drop out of a squad to accomodate a player from another club?

"i did have a nibble on a striker who I was willing to loan straight back, but it didn’t happen.

“We are far from done. If one of the players we have wanted to sign for a while became available we would have moved. We will have a good go for them in the summer. There is no guarantee we will get them, but the summer transfer window will be very different as far as we are concerned. We are after a couple of wingers and someone to replace Archie Collins if he leaves.

"To my recollection the busier we’ve been in January the worst we’ve usually done, apart from when we signed Jack Taylor and Sammie Szmodics in the same window.

“This is the first time in my 19 years at the club that we’ve done nothing and I actually felt quite liberated! We have signed Jacob Mendy on the deal we had for him on loan anyway and we did that because of the help Wrexham gave us with Tom O'Connor after he was ruled out for the season. We’ve been killed by Premier League big hitters in the past who wouldn’t cancel the loan deals of injured players.

“I contacted Shaun Harvey (Wrexham director), and asked him to speak to his owners and they agreed to help us out. It was a massive favour and we are very grateful. We owe them big time so when they inevitably come for one of our players I will repay the favour, not on the price probably, but on the repayment programme!”

Winger Kyrell Lisbie, who joined Posh from National League Braintree in the summer, looks certain to have attracted bids. League One leaders Cardiff City were linked with him on Deadline Day. Lisbie has scored nine goals so far in his debut Football League season.

Others to join Posh in the summer, who could well have attracted bids, are goalkeeper Alex Bass, midfielder Matt Garbett and striker Harry Leonard.

Posh have loaned players from the likes of Newcastle United and Manchester City in recent seasons who have subsequently suffered injuries.

Leonard, Gustav Lindgren, Brandon Khela, David Okagbue, Ben Woods and Rio Adebisi are among the players to have commanded sizeable fees when Posh signed them in recent seasons.