Sammie says ‘no pressure at all for little old Peterborough United’ as they prepare to have a crack at the Championship

Szmodics, a busy little attacking midfielder who is a firm fans’ favourite at the Weston Homes Stadium, reckons Posh are ready to take the second tier by storm.

And the 25 year-old, one of the few Posh players to have experience of the Championship, albeit a mere three appearances with Bristol City, intends to lead the charge for Darren Ferguson’s side.

“We can play with no presure this season,” Szmodics stated. “Some teams will probably look at us as ‘little Peterborough’. I dare say there are players at clubs like West Brom who have never even heard of Peterborough!

“But that would be a mistake. We have some good players, some good units at this club and we are raring to go and have a crack at Championship football.

“It is a big step up. We will be playing against bigger, stronger and faster players, but it’s up to us to be bigger, stronger and faster than them.

“It’s going to be a new experience for us as we will be playing in front of 25,000 in most of the away matches.

“You don’t get that in League One, but our lads showed they are players for the big occasion last season. When we played a big club or we had a big match in League One we all turned up.

“We will have to turn up for every game this season though and I know we will.

“In League One you could look at the fixture list and pick out the odd easy game, or even an easy month, but not this season.

“Every game is a big one and every game will be a challenge, but we can’t wait to have a go at them. We are excited rather than nervous.

“This is the perfect platform for us to show just how good we are. We are playing one step down from the best league in the world and who wouldn’t want that?

“We want to get established at this level and we can do that.

“We also have a great team sprit and a brilliant management team who planned last season and this pre-season perfectly.

“Off the field we are all mates. We cover for each other on the field. We get on great off it.

“We’ve added players who have fitted right in so I’m confident we will have a good season. That doesn’t mean just surviving. We think we are better than that.

“We are excited to have the fans back as well. I speak for most players when I say football is nothing without the fans. It’s massive for us to have our fans at games. They really do make a difference.

“I look at every fixture this season and they all look great to me, but obviously playing against Bristol City is a big one for me.

“I will always be grateful to that club as they changed my life by giving me a chance in the Championship.

“I didn’t play enough for someone with my enthusiasm so I dropped down a division with the aim of going straight back up. “I won’t hear a bad word said about City or anyone at that club though. I enjoyed my time there.”

Posh signed Szmodics from City last summer for a cool million pounds. He scored 16 goals in 46 appearances in all competitions last season.