What would make the Peterborough United chairman feel 'awesome' in the summer?

MacAnthony reckons nine of the 11 who started last weekend’s ‘fantastic’ Posh win against Charlton Athletic could still be at the club next season.

The two exceptions would be Kwame Poku and Ricky-Jade Jones who are expected to leave London Road when their current contracts expire at the end of June. Club captain Hector Kyprianou will also be leaving, but he didn’t play against Charlton.

MacAnthony’s prediction will be seen as a desire to keep loan signings Mo Susoho and Sam Hughes at the club as well as Tayo Edun who is only on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

The chairman believes injuries and the failure to sign a commanding centre-back last summer wrecked the current Posh campaign, but he wants a strong finish to deliver optimism back to his club ahead of the 2025-26 season.

"Two things killed us this season,” MacAnthony said on the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast. “Injuries destroyed us for a start and not getting the huge centre-back signing we wanted. General recruitment wasn’t the issue and we did think Jadel Katongo would be a good centre-back for us, but then he got injured as well.

"But we can be pleased that we all stayed together, me and the management staff, and the players refused to go under. I’m super-optimistic about what we can go on and do, and now we want to finish the season strongly, win a cup, score lots of goals and go into the summer feeling awesome. It’s been great to see the fans so excited again in recent weeks and, God willing, nine of the 11 who started the Charlton game could be with us again next season.

“I always knew we had something in the building after our summer recruitment and then our January recruitment was great. We will sign a few this summer, not many, but we are coming back early to get ready for a successful season.

“Abraham Odoh and Cian Hayes now look like serious players. Abraham has established himself in the team, while Cian took us to a different level when he came on against Charlton and Oscar Wallin has developed into the centre-back we hope he would become. I want Chris Conn-Clarke to step up next season and show he can compete with Malik Mothersille for the number 10 role.

“We had Joe Andrews in last week as well. We signed him from Chippenham in January and then loaned him straight back, but he had some free time and trained with us. The gaffer said he looked a top player, a great passer of the ball, and he scored a few goals in a training game.”

Posh are known to have tried to sign centre-back Lewis Brunt from Leicester City in the summer, but he went to Wrexham instead after the Welsh club offered substantially more in wages.