The best value signings made by Peterborough United in over 60 years as a Football League club.. and the Posh owners have their say!
By Alan Swann
Published 5th Sep 2021, 07:52 BST
Working out the best value Peterborough United signings since they joined the Football League in 1960 was a mammoth task.
We’ve worked out the top 25 based on profit from transfers, longevity and how much Posh success they enjoyed.
Some big names have missed out altogether. No current players were considered, apart from one who was a roaring succes first time around.
Let us know what you think. Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony and co-owner Dr Jason Neale have offered their opinion on who represented the best value.
Here’s our list, delivered naturally in reverse order...
Let us know what you think. Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony and co-owner Dr Jason Neale have offered their opinion on who represented the best value.
21. 5th: KEN CHARLERY
Cost: £25k. Sold for: £350k twice. Charlery and Gary Cooper were two of six players signed on transfer deadline day in March, 1992 by manager Chris Turner. Both were outstanding players, although it was 'King' Kenny Charlery who proved the most valuable. He was a lanky, uncoordinated winger when he first turned up and he played little part in the club's promotion from Division Four in the season he joined. But once switched to centre forward the following season he was a revelation. Famously scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Stockport County in the 1992 Division Three play-off final to shoot Posh into the second tier of English football for the first time. Sold to Watford the following season for 14 times what he cost Posh. Returned to Posh a year later and played well enough to earn another £350k move to Barry Fry's Birmingham City in 1996. Eventually came back again and scored 80 Posh goals in 224 appearances in total. A bona fide club legend.
Cost: £60k. Sold for: £6 million, £7.4 million with add ons). These are chairman Darragh MacAnthony's figures and I guess he would know! MacAnthony said: 'Cost us £60k in instalments & generated £7.4 million in transfer fees v 60k out'. Not bad for a payer who made just 29 Posh appearances and scored just 13 goals, albeit solely in the Championship. He's number one in any best value list in purely financial terms, but Posh were still relegated despite his execellence.
Cost: £25k. Sold for: Nothing, he retired. Famously signed for £25k from Grimsby in 1987 with money raised by fans. Manager Noel Cantwell set up 'Cantwell's Crusade' to raise money for players and he struck gold with a midfielder who became the club's greatest ever skipper. Halsall sweated blood and tears for Posh in some average sides, but was rewarded by captaining Chris Turner's team to back-to-back promotions between 1991 and 1993. He had the honour of collecting the Third Division play-off final trophy at the end of Posh's first appearance at Wembley. What a player. What a man. What a captain. And what a bargain.
Cost: £20Ok. Sold for: £2 million. Gary Johnson did two great things as Posh manager. He signed Grant McCann and he signed Lee Tomlin, even if both didn't show their best and most consistent form until Darren Ferguson returned as manager. Tomlin scores highly in this list as he was one of the most entertaining players in Posh history and he was a key man in the best teams in Posh history, the 2010-11 promotion winners, the 2011-2012 Championship side and the team from the second half of the 2012-13 season which almost pulled off the great escape from relegation. All for £200k before being sold for 10 times that to Middlesbrough in 2014.
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