The Peterborough United season that must never be repeated

Not even a second successive Wembley win in the EFL Trophy Final can disguise the disappointment felt at a campaign that turned into a rare relegation battle at League One level, one that was only won over the Easter weekend.

MacAnthony made his frustration known at a lengthy meeting with his managerial team on Wednesday and on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast.

But he insists changing his management team during the season never crossed his mind.

"There will never be job jeopardy as long we stick to the style of play I want, we score lots of goals and we make use of our Academy,” MacAnthony insisted. “If we had a squad of 27-30 year-olds who delivered the season we are having then there would be job jeopardy.

"We spend £2 million a year on the Academy so we have to use it. The sudden emergence of Harley Mills is a reason why we have an Academy. Ideally we would have 11 heavy hitters at League One level and 11 Academy players. That’s what a club our size with the debt we carry and the money we lose every year has to be.

"We had a squad full of players in their mid-20s who delivered the biggest choke in the club’s history at Sheffield Wednesday the other year.

"I always felt this would be a season of transition with so many new players. I didn’t expect us to be first or second, but I didn’t expect us to be 16th or 18th either.

"I felt we could get to February and be 10 points outside the play-offs and then go ‘bang’ and have a chance of getting in there, but then I didn’t expect to lose the left-back we signed for the season, or to lose the best player in League One for three months, or to lose the captain through injury as well.

"I chucked a lot of data at our meeting and compared it to last season and we were way down in many aspects. We haven’t beaten a team in the top eight all season apart from the recent home game against Charlton. We were first in possession last season stats last season and we had the most passes per game of 600. We are now down to 450 passes a game which is still the sixth highest. We had 18 shots on goal per game last season and now we are down to 10. We had the most crosses per game last season and that has dropped off this season. That’s not good enough for the way we like to play.

"I still believe I have best in class managers and coaching staff and I will always have their back if they stick to our principles, but I told them this is a ‘Never Again’ season. We must all be twice as good next season including me with the club’s finances. We will recruit well by signing good characters as well as good players, we will be strong at home, we will start well to keep the ‘nay-sayers’ off our backs and we will have another go next season.”