Which Peterborough United star is the greatest ex-Cobbler of them all?

On Saturday on-loan Peter Kioso will join a sizeable list of players to have represented Posh and Cobblers in Football League games.
Tony Adcock (right) and Bobby Barnes (centre) after Posh had won the Third Division play-off final at Wembley. Photo: David Lowndes.Tony Adcock (right) and Bobby Barnes (centre) after Posh had won the Third Division play-off final at Wembley. Photo: David Lowndes.
Tony Adcock (right) and Bobby Barnes (centre) after Posh had won the Third Division play-off final at Wembley. Photo: David Lowndes.

​Kioso played 21 games for the Cobblers on loan from Luton in a League One relegation season of 2020-21.

Right-back Kioso scored twice in a 3-0 win over Ipswich Town at Sixfields.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He might one day make our top five players to have played for Cobblers before going on to bigger and better things with Posh…

Ivan Toney after scoring early in his Posh career. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.comIvan Toney after scoring early in his Posh career. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com
Ivan Toney after scoring early in his Posh career. Photo: Joe Dent/theposh.com

1) TONY ADCOCK

One of the classiest players to have graced the London Road turf and a key man in the team that became the first from Posh to reach the second tier of English football, and to then achieve the highest Football League finish in the club’s history (10th in Division One).

Posh boss Chris Turner raided cash-strapped Cobblers to pinch Adcock and winger Bobby Barnes for a combined £60k in January, 1992. Adcock formed a lethal partnership with Ken Charlery and, when the King left, he top scored in successive Division One seasons for Posh.

Adcock’s bare statistics of 39 goals in 130 Posh games don't do him justice.

Record appearance-maker Tommy Robson in action for Posh. Photo: David Lowndes.Record appearance-maker Tommy Robson in action for Posh. Photo: David Lowndes.
Record appearance-maker Tommy Robson in action for Posh. Photo: David Lowndes.

2) Ivan Toney

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A boy wonder at Cobblers who sold him to Newcastle who sold him to Posh for £250k-ish. Toney scored 48 goals in 94 Posh appearances to earn a £10 million move to Brentford.

3) Tommy Robson

Robson made his Football League debut for Cobblers aged 17 in 1962 and scored in a 2-0 win over Posh at London Road. He joined Posh from Chelsea in 1968 for £20k and it proved a huge bargain as the dashing winger made a club record 559 appearances and scored 126 goals.​

A towering header from Posh record goalscorer Jim Hall.A towering header from Posh record goalscorer Jim Hall.
A towering header from Posh record goalscorer Jim Hall.

4) Jim Hall

Posh's record Football League goalscorer with 137 goals spread over eight seasons and 334 appearances following a transfer from Cobblers in 1967. Hall, a powerful centre-forward, passed 20 goals for a season four times at Posh and was a key man in the 1973-74 Fourth Division title-winning side.​

5) Bobby Barnes

Mercurial winger only made 60 appearances and scored just 9 goals, but he was a crowd-pleasing talent. He famously delivered the cross from which Steve Cooper scored the winning play-off semi-final goal at Huddersfield in 1992.