The sky's the limit for a young Peterborough United squad

​MacAnthony and first-team manager Darren Ferguson launched a bold new blueprint for success after the club’s heartbreaking defeat in the League One play-off semi-final last season.

That involved building a squad of young, dynamic and speedy players for the new campaign and the chairman has been enthused by what he’s seen in pre-season.

He just hopes the players are given time to develop by a fanbase used to challenging for promotion from League One.

“The manager drove the new plans,” MacAnthony revealed on his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast. “And I’m right on board with him.

"We have invested in young players, but they are also very good players and it should be an exciting season full of good football.

"The players will be given the freedom to express themselves and they will be told to be brave. They won’t have older players on their backs telling them off.

"With that comes risk. They will make mistakes and we wiil probably give away the most stupid goals imaginable, but we have to stick with them because the mistakes won’t last.

"The young bucks will flourish and we have to let them. They will have my support.

"We might fly under the radar a bit this season and that could suit us.

"We are managing expectations which the manager wants, but we always approach seasons at this level with belief.

"As usual we will be up against some big hitters, but that’s something we have seen before with the likes of Leicester and Leeds in the division.

"Bolton Wanderers are a big club, Derby County are a big club and Portsmouth are a big club, but we have done well against all of them in the past.

"Some of the football I’ve seen this summer has been impressive. We beat Leicester City in pre-season we played very well against Birmingham City last weekend.

"We’ve signed well and we have a couple of under 21 players at the club who I expect will be bashing the door down to get into the first-team.”