Posh owner warns Ferguson results must improve

Darragh MacAnthony took over Peterborough owner in 2006 - and became sole majority shareholder again in 2023

Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony has warned boss Darren Ferguson that results - and the team's style of play - must improve following the current international break.

Posh are bottom of League One, having won only two of 11 games this season, but speaking in his Hard Truth podcast, MacAnthony said Ferguson deserved "the benefit of the doubt" for now.

The Scot is in his fourth spell in charge, having led the team to four promotions in the past and victory at Wembley in the EFL Trophy final in the last two seasons.

"We've got a squad that should not have won (only) two games in 11. We're not playing well enough, the football's not exciting enough, it's bland," said MacAnthony.

"I had an honest conversation with my manager and said 'look, I need to know, have you go this?'

"You love this football club, I'm not saying I'm firing you but I need you to talk to me and his response was 'we're there, you'll see it, we will win games now, we're ready'."

Peterborough finished 18th last season and the squad was revamped over the summer, culminating in four players being brought in on transfer deadline day - Harry Leonard, Jimmy May Morgan, Tom O'Connor and Jacob Mendy.

And MacAnthony believes the coaching staff have had long enough to forge them into a team capable of winning games and exciting the crowd.

He was frustrated at seeing Peterborough 2-0 down against Aston Villa's youngsters in the EFL Trophy recently, before coming back to win 4-2, and by last Saturday's defeat at Bolton when they played well in patches.

"I want to enjoy what I watch, I want Peterborough to have 20 shots a game, I don't care if we lose games 4-3, I want us having a go, I want us getting our crowd back," MacAnthony added.

"We have to give our fans something to cheer, and not just in one game, we have to give them belief."

He continued: "My manager is asking me to trust him. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt based on our history together.

"The Darragh of 10 years ago, he'd have been gone at half-time against Villa, but the Darragh now, I'm running a football club and can't just react because we're losing games, there's more to it than that."

Ferguson said last month that his desire to win games remained as strong as ever and MacAnthony said it was certainly not a case of the manager having lost the dressing room.

There have been no "temper tantrums" and "people in the corners whispering", MacAnthony said.

But he added: "It's a squad that's capable of winning games, a squad capable of playing better football - those things have to marry up and I'm positive coming out of the break that that's what will happen.

"If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and the manager is big enough to know it can't go on forever. Let's see how they react coming out of the international break."

Peterborough's next two games are away to Burton Albion (18 October) and home to Blackpool (25 October), both teams also in the bottom four.