Peterborough United vs QPR - All You Need To Know About The Posh
Posted On 05/02/2010 at at 14:49 by Alistair Kleebauer
Peterborough Team News
The Posh can call on defender Craig Morgan again after serving a suspension as new boss Jim Gannon, formerly of Stockport and Motherwell, takes charge for the first time. Ex-QPR player Tommy Williams, who played on loan at Loftus Road this season, is doubtful though as is fellow defender Gabriel Zakuani, who has a groin injury.
What To Expect
QPR or The Circus as they could soon be dubbed will be pleased to know that somehow, somewhere, there are teams, even in the same division, who have bigger problems than their own. Crystal Palace and Peterborough would surely rival The Hoops when it comes to singing the blues. Whilst Rangers will talk for a long time about the Dark Winter of 2009 in which they lost two managers in the space of a month, culminating in fan protests outside their own ground last weekend, they still haven't had it quite as bad as some.
Just as Palace were putting together a decent run of form, they find themselves on the end of a 10-point deduction which took them from the edge of the play-offs to the edge of the relegation area.
The Posh on the other hand could have been handed those 10 points as a type of mercy payment and you'd suspect that they would still be relegated. They've had a disastrous start to the year, swapping managers almost as readily as QPR, being lambasted publicly by their own chairman and contriving to lose every game in January include potentially life-preserving matches against Derby County and the unfortunate Palace. New boss Jim Gannon, appointed on Tuesday, is the latest candidate to try and breathe life into their ailing season.
All this comes after two back-to-back promotions built on a transfer policy of buying young and ambitious non-league footballers and playing dynamic, attacking football. Under former manager Darren Ferguson, now at Preston North End, The Posh flew up the leagues on the back of some astute signings from the lower leagues including strikers Aaron McLean (pictured below) and Craig Mackail-Smith, signed from Grays Athletic and Dagenham & Redbridge respectively and talismanic captain George Boyd, signed from Stevenage Borough.
After a slow start though, this season has gone from bad to worse. Peterborough were genuinely one of the best teams I've seen at Loftus Road this season where they earned a 1-1 draw back in September, fearlessly setting about the home side on the counter-attack, but a flaky defence has meant just three wins all season and they currently looked doomed, sitting 11 points off safety. The departure of Ferguson amid accusations that he was tapped up by another club didn't help, nor has the reaction of chairman Darragh MacAnthony who claimed that the team's spirit had been "destroyed by greed, skullduggery, tapping up and disloyalty from within" in an explosive statement on the club's website.
Star Man
You can't go wrong with The White Pele and no, it's not Wayne Rooney. Again, going back to that 1-1 draw at Loftus Road in early September, one of the best players on the pitch was George Boyd, Peterborough's striker/winger/defensive midfielder/wherever you want him.
Playing just behind the strikers that day, Boyd had what few in the Championship have - complete composure. The ball seemed glued to his feet for much of the game and on top of that, he had a tireless energy, flitting between different positions with ease.
That work-rate and stamina has undoubtedly contributed to him breaking the club's consecutive appearances record - currently standing at 140 league games on the trot. But more than that, he is a genuinely skilful and dangerous player, named in the PFA Teams Of The Season in both Peterborough's promotion campaigns and even in this troubled campaign, he still has a healthy return of 12 goals in all competitions
Hoops TV - Peterborough United
Forget Bergkamp against Leicester City. Ignore Rivaldo against Valencia. The greatest hat-trick ever, as declared by glenposh on YouTube, was former Peterborough legend David Farrell's trio against Barnet which left Barry Fry gurning and swearing with joy on the touch-line.
Ten Year Record
2008-9 - League One - 2nd (Promoted)
2007-8 - League Two - 2nd (Promoted)
2006-7 - League Two - 10th
2005-6 - League Two - 9th
2004-5 - League One - 23rd (Relegated)
2003-4 - Second Division (now League One) - 18th
2002-3 - Second Division - 11th
2001-2 - Second Division - 17th
2000-1 - Second Division - 12th
1999-0 - Third Division - 5th (promoted via play-offs)
Lend Us A Tenner?
With a personally wealthy if controversial figure at the helm, Peterborough have jumped up the divisions on the back of modest transfers for non-league players under chairman Darragh MacAnthony.
He made his fortune in property, forming MacAnthony Realty International in 2000, selling overseas holiday homes and bought The Posh in 2007 for a nominal £1 fee from Barry Fry, taking on £1.7 million worth of outstanding debts and overdrafts and was estimated to have a personal wealth of £68m by the Sunday Times Rich List in 2008.
Undoubtedly ambitious, he will have to dig deep if Posh are to stay in this league and one day make it to the Premiership.
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