Peterborough United’s recruitment is second to none, while Darragh MacAnthony and Darren Ferguson are ‘millionaire makers!”

Fry claimed former Posh forward Dembele will become a millionaire because of the contract he has signed at Bournemouth and insisted MacAnthony and Darren Ferguson are the best at what they do at the club’s financial level.

Fry said: “Dembele became a difficult situation for us. Birmingham made us and the player a really good offer which I put to Siriki, but he only wanted to go to Bournemouth and he will become a millionaire with the contract he has signed there.

“I reckon Dembele is the 15th player to become a millionaire after being with us and we also have three or four players at the club who we could have sold for millions already.

“I know we have been getting criticism for our recruitment, but it’s unfair. At our level the chairman’s recruitment is second to none and the manager is second to none in the way he develops players.

“We are a selling club and we are still getting money in from players we sold years ago. We get a payment every time Matty Stevens gets 10 goals for instance.

“I’ve been doing transfers for 50 years and this window was the worst I’ve ever experienced. We had a recruitment meeting and the manager asked about four players with Championship or Premier League experience and when I made enquiries they were on between £20k-£42k each which is out of our range.

“The five players we have signed on loan though were all more money at their clubs and they have waived wages and their agents have waived their fees which is the sort of commitment we need now.”