I’ve been waiting all week to get a chance to listen to Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony on The Hard Truth podcast.
I like Darragh. He’s good value for a soundbite, he’s no nonsense, and he speaks his truth, which is not blinded by his role as Posh chairman. If they’re bad, he says they’re bad. I wouldn’t want that for my club, but when he speaks about the Imps, I want to listen.
On a wet and cold run this afternoon, I finally got to listen, and it’s fair to say I agree with most of his points from our 5-2 win last weekend. He summed it up perfectly early on by claiming we were one of the best sides in the division.
“Lincoln are obviously one of the best sides in League One,” he said. “They’re having a phenomenal period of time. They’ve done great last year. They’ve done great this year. They’re up there. They’re second.”
Of course, he is watching through blue-tinted spectacles, but few wearing red-tinted lenses could argue with his assertion that they were the best side early doors. Looking back, it was a great spectacle, and between two local clubs within easy travelling distance of each other.
“We’re at their place. We’ve taken a great following. They’ve got a set-out crowd. And for 30 minutes it was so enjoyable to watch. And Lincoln will tell you, themselves, it’s not about 30 minutes of football.
“We dominated the game. I mean, dominated the game. It was like you’d watch the two teams and be like, who’s second?””
Of course, they took a 1-0 lead, and Darragh goes through the moments within the game, which you’ll have to listen to. It’s not fair of me to transcribe their whole podcast, and it is worth a listen.
He doesn’t believe 5-2 was a fair reflection of the game, and he pointed out where he thinks we were better than his current Posh side.
“Everyone will go, well, Lincoln are far better than us and they’re far ahead of us. I don’t agree. They’re a great team. They’re second. They’re brilliant. But like, you know, seven, eight of our players when we played Lincoln weren’t on our team last year.
“Lincoln have been together for a long period of time. They’ve been building. They’ve made changes at the back because they’ve lost players, but they’ve been building. Same manager. They’re a very good team, good football club.”
“They’ve got a really strong group of players that have been together for a while. They’ve got a bit of experience in there. They’ve got some good young players. They are your stereotypical, strong, physical, big league one side who can bully you.”
Finally, is it a derby? We’ve had the debate before. When we win, some of their fans are nonplussed, but then others feel we’re a derby game for them. Both clubs come from a city largely surrounded by farmland, and if you take a 66-mile journey from Wimbledon, you arrive at Reading (and beyond), which isn’t really a derby.
“They’ve tanked us twice this year, last year. They’ve had a nice 18 months against us, which doesn’t sit well with me because they’re not too far from our front door. And historically, we’ve always had the better of them.”
There is a lot more about the game and Darragh’s thoughts on the division, which is worth listening to. The pod is also timestamped, so you can skip the bits you don’t want.
Whatever your opinion of Posh, and of the significance of the game, it is nice to hear someone speaking in glwoing terms about the Imps, and perhaps seeing things we often miss from the inside looking out.
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