Posh? Not on your nelly!
Posted on November 7th, 2009 | 47 Comments |
To be frank, Peterborough squad are the ‘Poundland’ of the Championship. Promoted last year through the playoffs, some of the figures paid for Newcastle United players in recent times would pay for the whole Peterborough squad. They even make Scunthorpe look like Real Madrid. However, if any stray Posh fans are reading this, I come here to praise Peterborough, not to bury them. For despite their current, rather lowly position in the Championship (second bottom on goal difference with 11 points), they have been minor miracle workers who, on paper, shouldn’t even be in the Championship at all. But, like Rocky Marciano, plucky Posh have managed to punch above their weight very admirably overall. They also have the ability to slay giants too, including Newcastle United on more than one occaision.
To illustrate my earlier point, here is a list of Peterborough’s ‘Big Money’ signings (nicked from Wikipedia)
- Joe Lewis Signed for £500,000 due to promotion
Ryan Bennett Signed for £500,000
Gabriel Zakuani Signed for £375,000
George Boyd Signed for £260,000
Tommy Rowe Signed for £225,000
Toumani Diagouraga Signed for £200,000
Lee Frecklington Signed for £175,000
Dominic Green Signed for £175,000
Aaron McLean Signed for £150,000
Sergio Torres Signed for £150,000
Craig Mackail-Smith Signed for £125,000
Many Toon fans will remember the last name on that list, when he scored against a Chuckle Brother’s second eleven to knock we oot of the League Cup.
There’s Only One Barry Fry.
Like many other big spenders, they also have a ‘Director of Football’ in the shape of Barry Fry, a lower league legend who has played for, and managed more teams than I’ve had hot dinners, probably. However, he is probably most closely associated with Barnet, and now Peterbourough, who he has served for over thirteen years as chairman, manager and now DOF. Of course, he was also seen by millions in the documetary ‘There’s Only One Barry Fry’, and along with Ron Atkinson in the show ‘Big Ron Manager’, where Big Ron ‘troubleshot’ the Posh and formed a very entertaining football double act with Fry.
Of course, they are also famous for their current manager, the son of old whiskynose himself, Darren Ferguson. Seen as a very promisong young manager who is squeezing as much as he can from a very poorly resourced squad, he has made waves with the recent promotion and some good FA cup performances.
On the match though…
Thankfully, the goalscorers from the League Cup clash, Williams and Makail-Smith are definitely knacked, and probably still knacked respectively. However, they will probably be welcoming back their number one goalkeeper, Joe Lewis, from suspension.
On the other hand, wor lads have seen some big hitters returning in recent weeks, and Steven Taylor should be another one for this match after a troublsome hamstring. Zurab Georgianfella will remain on the sidelines however as he continues to do his time for a sending off against Doncaster.
Our Cockney colossus, Chris Hughton, will certainly be looking to consolidate on last week’s 1-0 thrashing of the mighty Blades after a recent wobble, helped along a little by some Mr. Magoo style refereeing. The team should be MUCH better than the aforementioned cup defeat though. Wor Harps is also looking for revenge on behalf of the bairns apparently, even though didn’t play. Dripping with menace, he recently said:
“I wasn’t at Peterborough, but I’m told that their players were milking it against a lot of our young lads, so we’re looking forward to them coming up. I’m sure the fans will get behind us and show how tough a place St James’s Park is to come.
He later added:
“We know that it’ll be a tough game, and that they’ll come and make it difficult for us, but it would be fantastic to take another three points.”
Meanwhile Darren Ferguson has been looking forward to the game, saying:
“It’s games like this that we worked so hard to get in the Championship for and why we are determined to stay there,”
Well, in conclusion, it should be a home win, and a totally different affair from the cup exit with a reasonably fit first team of big guns; but my Geordie paranoia keeps saying “ye never knaa like, anything can happen…” etc
Fact of the week: This home fixture @StJames’s Park (ugh) is very likely to be the most attended game ever involving Petrbourough, as the current record stands at 36,478 at Crystal Palace way back in 1960.
Kick-off: Saturday 3pm @St James’s Park.com.
Ref: Andy D’Urso.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1096 articles on this blog.
i cant believe you are slagging pompey. Its an absolutely lovely port. Nelsons flagship , the victory, is based there in all its glory. Peterborough has one of the biggest naval bases in england.
Of course pompey is posh.
You are clueless.