Peterborough United Football Club are an English professional football team based in Peterborough. They currently play in League Two for the 2007-08 season. The club was formed in 1934 and was first admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead F.C.. The side play at the London Road ground in Peterborough. The club nickname is The Posh. Opinion is split as to who Peterborough United's main local rivals are. Older fans tend to point to Northampton Town, a rivalry which has endured since the 1960s. However, many younger fans consider Cambridge United to be the club's main foes - this game is known as the Cambridgeshire derby. Peterborough's greatest ever player is arguably Terry Bly. He scored 52 goals in the club's first season as a Football League club, as they sealed the Fourth Division championship. The club also had a proud tradition of producing successful young players, those to have recently come through the youth academy have included Simon Davies (now at Fulham), Matthew Etherington (now at West Ham United) and Adam Drury (now at Norwich City).
During the 2005-06 season the club had three managers: team owner Barry Fry returned to management following former England international Mark Wright's sacking in January. Wright's assistant Steve Bleasdale was then appointed acting manager, but resigned in April following a row with Fry over tactics. He also objected to Ron Atkinson giving advice to the management while filming a programme (Big Ron Manager) for Sky One which was broadcast in April - September 2006. Keith Alexander joined as manager from Lincoln City for the 2006-07 season and, having initially installed himself as the Director of Football, Fry became chairman in August 2006.
On September 18th 2006 Peterborough United announced the "biggest signing in the clubs history", new chairman Darragh MacAnthony chairman of MRI Overseas Property. MacAnthony has purchased 200 shares in PUFC and has stated that his goal is to become the sole owner of the Club. As of yet, no more details have been announced. In its AGM of 05/09/2006 the Posh Supporters' Trust stated that it owned 1390 shares in PUFC. The deal was delayed as of November 2006 when the owners of the Ground Peterborough United Holdings Ltd (PUHL) refused to Accept the sale until they receive planning permission their proposed development of the Moys end Terrace and building of 135 Luxury flats. Despite this MacAnthony has said he will not walk away from the club. With the prospect of rich new ownership a £1m bid for striker Izale McLeod was accepted by his club, MK Dons, but the player turned the move down. They have since signed George Boyd from Stevenage for a reported fee of around £260,000 [1] , Aaron Mclean from Grays Athletic for a figure expected to be around £150,000 [2] and Josh Low from Leicester for a fee rising to £100,000 [3]. They have also signed 32 year old central midfielder Micah Hyde for £75,000 (raising to £100,000 if Peterborough get promotion) from Burnley and goalkeeper Shwan Jalal from Woking for an undisclosed fee to continue their bid spending. While Alexander had some success in the role, leading the club to its best-ever start to a season and keeping them in the play-off positions for most of the 2006-07 season, he was nonetheless sacked in January due to a run of six defeats in a row, and his long-ball tactics met with disapproval among fans even when the club was near the top of the table. After a brief caretaker spell by Tommy Taylor, Darren Ferguson was installed as player-manager. Ferguson had a good start to his managerial career, and was unlucky to only gain 1 point from his first 3 games after some good performances. Ironically, the first win in his managerial career was against his former club, Wrexham A.F.C.. Ferguson appointed Kevin Russell as his assistant, and Ben MacKenzie as fitness coach.
Darragh MacAnthony
Darren Ferguson
Teslim Balogun
Jock Porter
Keith Alexander
