Peterborough United F.C.

Peterborough United formed in 1934 at Peterborough's Angel Hotel to provide a replacement for Peterborough & Fletton United, who had folded two years previously.^[1] Peterborough's application to join the Midland League was welcomed by the league, however, the representatives from the club did not have the money to pay for the security deposit, entry fee and subscription. Grantham Town loaned the money to The Posh who began selling shares to raise funds.^[2]

4,033 fans attended The Posh's first league match which ended in a 4–0 victory over Gainsborough Trinity. William Rigby scored the team's first goal. They won the Midland League on six occasions, including five seasons in a row from 1956 to 1960. The Posh were elected to The Football League for the beginning of the 1960–61 season, winning Division Four.^[3]

Following the Fourth Division Championship success in 1960–61, The Posh spent seven seasons in the 3rd Division. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1964–65 FA Cup, beating Arsenal and Swansea Town along the way before going out to Chelsea.^[4] They were relegated back to the 4th Division for financial irregularities in the summer of 1968. The club took six seasons to return to Division 3, winning the 4th Division championship.

In 1977–78 the club threatened to go one better until they narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 2 when they drew the last game of the season at champions Wrexham (0–0) when a win was needed to go up. The game was notable for the fact that over 2,000 Preston North End fans travelled to Wrexham to watch the game and cheer on the home side – Preston were the club who went up because Peterborough did not win. The Wrexham draw cast a long shadow over the club and it fell into a long decline. Relegation followed in 1979 and Posh subsequently spent 12 years back in the 4th division. The 1980s was a long story of mismanagement and false dawns, punctuated by the odd cup run. March 1984 marked the arrival of striker Errington Kelly on loan;^[5][6] after scoring seven goals in eleven appearances, he was made permanent,^[6] and went on to have over 100 appearances for Peterborough over five seasons.^[7]

In January 1991, Chris Turner, who had played in the 1974 Fourth division championship team took over as manager and the team embarked on a run of 13 unbeaten games that propelled them into the top four. Six players were signed on transfer deadline day, which at the time was a record for the number of players signed by one club on a single day. On the final day of the season, Posh travelled to Chesterfield needing a win to seal promotion. Despite going two goals down in the first ten minutes, the team rallied and drew level with goals from David Robinson and George Berry. However, Posh's closest rivals, Blackpool lost at Walsall and promotion was achieved.

 

The following season arguably remains the most successful in the club's history. After an inconsistent start the team hit form during the autumn when they knocked Wimbledon and Newcastle United out of the League Cup. The reward was a home tie with a Liverpool team containing Bruce Grobbelaar, Jan Mølby, Steve McManaman, Dean Saunders and Mark Wright. Garry Kimble scored the only goal after 19 minutes prompting wild celebrations and a place in the quarter-finals. In the league, the team went from strength to strength and surged up the table. Middlesbrough ended the League Cup run after a replay and there was further disappointment when the team missed out on a trip to Wembley in the Football League Trophy when they lost to Stoke City over two legs in the area final.

Progress continued in the league and a play-off place was clinched on the last day of the season despite a 1–0 defeat to champions Brentford. The following week, Huddersfield Town came to London Road for the first leg of the Semi-final. Captain Mick Halsall's last minute equaliser levelled the score at 2–2. Three days later, the supporters travelled north more in hope than expectation but they were rewarded when the team came from a goal down to win 2–1 with Worrell Sterling and Steve Cooper scoring the goals. On 24 May 1992, Peterborough United played at Wembley for the first time, against Stockport County in the Third Division playoff final. With Posh winning 2–1 and gaining promotion to the new First division. They played in Football League Division One between 1992 and 1994 and finished 10th, their highest ever league finish, in 1992–93 season.^[8]

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 2006. Wright's assistant Steve Bleasdale was then appointed acting manager, but resigned in April. Keith Alexander joined as manager from Lincoln City for 2006–07 but was sacked in January 2007 after a run of poor form and was replaced by Darren Ferguson.^[9] He led the club to back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship in his two full seasons in charge. By November 2009 Posh were bottom of the Championship and Ferguson left the club,^[10] to be replaced by Mark Cooper. In February 2010, after only 13 games in charge, Cooper also left the club^[11] and Jim Gannon was appointed in his place.^[12] Following confirmation of relegation from the Championship after a 2–2 draw at Barnsley, Gannon was replaced by Gary Johnson.^[13]

 

Gary Johnson left the club on 10 January 2011 due to policy disagreement.^[14] Two days after Johnson's departure, Darren Ferguson returned to the club on a four-and-a-half-year contract. Peterborough finally finished 4th in 2010–11 with one of the worst defensive records in the third tier, conceding 75 goals, but scoring 106; the most for anybody in the Football League that season. Peterborough beat Milton Keynes Dons in the play-off semi-finals. They defeated Huddersfield Town in the final with a 3–0 victory, and gained promotion back to the Championship.

Darren Ferguson led the team to safety in its first season back in the Championship, leading to a finish in 18th. However, the Posh were relegated back the following season, after losing to Crystal Palace 3–2 on 4 May 2013, the final match of the season.^[15] On 30 March 2014, the Posh won the Football League Trophy after defeating Chesterfield in the final at Wembley Stadium.^[16] Darren Ferguson ended his time as Peterborough United manager on 21 February 2015, following a 3–0 defeat at Milton Keynes Dons.^[17]

On 1 May 2021, Peterborough were promoted back to the Championship after an 8-year stay in League One after coming back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 against rivals Lincoln City following a 96th-minute penalty by Jonson Clarke-Harris.^[18] On 20 February 2022, Darren Ferguson left Peterborough United for the third time, after offering his resignation to club co-owner Darragh MacAnthony. Ferguson left the club in the relegation zone of the Championship, five points from safety. At the end of the 2021–22 season, Peterborough were relegated back to League One.^[19] In the 2022–23 season, Peterborough reached the League One play-offs, but lost in the semi-finals to Sheffield Wednesday.^[20] Peterborough won the EFL Trophy for the second time in the 2023–24 season, defeating Wycombe Wanderers 2–1 in the final.^[21]

Tables of kit suppliers and shirt sponsors appear below:^[22]

Peterborough United are nicknamed "The Posh ", a moniker coined in 1921, after Pat Tirrell, manager of Fletton United, was reported to say he was "Looking for posh players for a posh new team".^[23] When Fletton United looked to join the Southern League in 1923 they added Peterborough to their name to form Peterborough & Fletton United, in an attempt to gain the backing of businesses in Peterborough. Peterborough & Fletton United went bankrupt in October 1932 so the current club is the third to be known as The Posh. However, the term "posh" was used as a derogatory term for the club by the press.^[24] A pub on London Road, Peterborough, founded in 1932 and originally named The Bridge, was renamed Port Out Starboard Home (POSH) in the 1970s and demolished 1990s.^[25]

Peterborough & Fletton United were also commonly called "the brickies"^[26] in reference to the large brick industry in Peterborough, however the nickname was dropped when the club went bankrupt.

In 2002 Victoria Beckham filed a counter-claim with the UK Patent Office over the club's application to register their nickname of "Posh" for use on merchandise. The former Spice Girl, who was known in the group as "Posh Spice", claimed the "nickname 'Posh' has become synonymous with her on a worldwide basis". She was unsuccessful in her suit.^[27]

Since their formation Peterborough United have played their home games at London Road. The stand behind the London Road End is terraced while the Moy's End, is a rebuilt all-seater stand, and now known as the GH Display Stand. A 20,000 all-seater stadium to replace London Road has been proposed.^[28] The record attendance at the stadium is 30,096, achieved on 20 February 1965 in an FA Cup fifth-round game against Swansea Town.^[8]

The ground was renamed as the ABAX Stadium in November 2014 as part of a five-year sponsorship deal with Norwegian company ABAX. In June 2019, the ground was renamed the "Weston Homes Stadium" as a ten-year sponsorship deal, the largest in the club's history, between the football club and the British property developer company.^[29]

Cambridge United

According to the Football Fans Census, Cambridge United were considered to be the club's main rival.^[30] The Cambridge rivalry, known as the Cambridgeshire derby, has been fought very evenly over the years; Peterborough winning 18 and Cambridge 15, with Peterborough netting 59 times and Cambridge 52 in the 39 competitive matches they have played each other. However, the two sides did not meet each other between 2001 and 2017 when they faced each other in the Checkatrade Trophy, a game which Peterborough won 2–0. They next met in the league on 29 October 2022. A game which Peterborough won 1–0.^[31] Peterborough won the latest fixture with a record breaking 5–0 win in the league on 11 November 2023.^{[citation needed]}

Northampton Town

Northampton Town are the club's traditional rival,^[30] dating back to when both sides were lower league, and as the city of Peterborough is historically part of Northamptonshire.

MK Dons

More recently, Peterborough fans have begun to view the MK Dons as rivals, partly due to the geographic location, but also due to battling with the MK Dons for promotion from League Two and League One in Darren Ferguson's first two full seasons.^[32][33]

Huddersfield Town

Ever since 1992 there has also been animosity between Peterborough United and Huddersfield Town, with Chris Turner's Peterborough progressing to the final and later on winning the play-offs in the 1991–92 Football League Third Division, they progressed past Huddersfield winning 4–3 on aggregate in the playoff semi finals.^[34] This rivalry further grew in 2011 with Peterborough winning against Huddersfield in the 2010–11 League One play-off final 3–0, and in the 2012–13 Championship season Huddersfield relegated Peterborough from the championship on the last day of the season with them drawing 2–2 with Barnsley, and with Peterborough losing 3–2 against Crystal Palace, Huddersfield's draw with Barnsley, with both sides willing to see the game out as a draw, caused the latter to leapfrog Peterborough and send them down to League One.^[35][36] This rivalry was played again in the 2021–22 Championship season.^[37]

Lincoln City

Peterborough also have shown a certain enmity towards Lincoln City as the city of Lincoln is only fifty miles directly up the A15 from Peterborough and also some southern parts of Lincolnshire are actually geographically closer to Peterborough rather than Lincoln itself .^[38] This rivalry grew on 1 May 2021, as Peterborough United came back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 meaning they secured automatic promotion to the Championship, denying Lincoln a chance at finishing second and forcing the Lincolnshire club to settle for a play-off place.^[39]

Pride of Anglia

Many fans consider Peterborough to be a part of the Pride of Anglia derby, contested between the professional clubs based in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and sometimes Essex.^{[citation needed]} Matches against these teams often draw large crowds with Posh's highest home attendance of the 2019–20 season coming against Ipswich Town with 10,071 fans.

As of 7 November 2024^[40][41][42]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   AUS Nicholas Bilokapic 2 DF   IRL Sam Curtis (on loan from Sheffield United) 3 DF   ENG Rio Adebisi 4 MF   ENG Archie Collins (vice-captain) 5 DF   SWE Oscar Wallin 7 FW   ENG Malik Mothersille 8 MF   ENG Ryan de Havilland 9 MF   NIR Chris Conn-Clarke 10 FW   ENG Abraham Odoh 11 MF   GHA Kwame Poku 13 GK   ENG Will Blackmore 14 MF   ENG Joel Randall 15 DF   WAL George Nevett 17 FW   ENG Ricky-Jade Jones 18 FW   IRL Cian Hayes

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF   ESP Mahamadou Susoho (on loan from Manchester City) 21 DF   ENG Jack Sparkes 22 MF   CYP Hector Kyprianou (captain) 27 DF   ENG Jadel Katongo (on loan from Manchester City) 31 GK   ENG Jed Steer 33 DF   ENG James Dornelly 34 DF   ENG Harley Mills 35 MF   ENG Donay O'Brien-Brady 37 DF   ENG Emmanuel Fernandez 38 MF   ENG Tyler Young 39 MF   ENG Ma'kel Bogle-Campbell 40 DF   ENG Ollie Rose 41 FW   ENG David Kamara 42 DF   BRA Lucca Mendonça 48 FW   ENG Bradley Ihionvien

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 6 DF   ENG Romoney Crichlow (at Dagenham & Redbridge until 1 January 2025) 16 FW   ENG David Ajiboye (at York City until 15 January 2025) 28 FW   ENG Jacob Wakeling (at Gillingham until 30 June 2025) — FW   ENG Pemi Aderoju (at Boston United until 31 March 2025) — DF   ENG Aaron Powell (at Kettering Town until 30 June 2025) — FW   ENG Kabongo Tshimanga (at Swindon Town until 30 June 2025)

For a list of notable Peterborough United players in sortable-table format see List of Peterborough United F.C. players.

As of 2 July 2024^[43]

• Chairman: Darragh MacAnthony
• Chief Executive Officer: Dawn Gore
• Director of Football: Barry Fry
• Directors: Liz Elsom , Iain Crawford, Dawn Gore
• Operations Manager: Vacant
• Commercial Director: Alex Harris
• Club Patron: Bob Symns

• First-team manager: Darren Ferguson  
• Assistant manager: Kieran Scarff  
• First-team coach : Dale Tonge  
• Goalkeeping coach: Paul Gerrard  
• Head of sports science: Lewis Keeble
• First Team Analyst: Matthew Loades
• Physio: Jonathan Chatfield
• Kit Manager: Ryan Melton
• Club Doctor: Dr Cosmas C.P Nnochiri

• Under 23s Manager: Ryan Semple  
• Under 18s Manager: Jimmy Unwin  
• Under 18s Assistant Manager: Hugh Alban-Jones  
• Senior Professional Phase Lead Coach: Vacant
• Academy Goalkeeper Coach: Ali Uzunhasanoglu  
• Youth Lead Phase Coach: Ryan Semple
• Head of academy coaching: Tony Cook  
• Head of Player Care: Lewis Elsom  
• Academy manager: Dan Robinson  

As of 9 November 2024. Only competitive matches are counted. Periods as caretaker manager are shown in italics

Name[44][45]	From	To	Record
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Jock Porter	9 July 1934	10 April 1936	71	25	17	29	35.21%
Fred Taylor	11 April 1936	22 April 1936	6	2	1	3	33.33%
Fred Taylor	23 April 1936	30 June 1937	49	21	6	22	41.82%
H J (Bert) Poulter	1 July 1937	2 June 1938	45	8	15	22	17.78%
Sam Haden	3 June 1938	1 May 1948	179	88	27	64	49.16%
Jack Blood	3 May 1948	4 February 1950	83	37	11	35	44.58%
Jim Smith	05 February 1950	05 March 1950	10	6	4	0	60.00%
Bob Gurney	6 March 1950	1 April 1952	87	37	25	25	42.53%
The Board	2 April 1952	3 June 1952	9	3	3	3	33.33%
Jack Fairbrother	4 June 1952	9 January 1954	82	41	22	19	50.00%
The Board/Trainer/Captain	10 January 1954	1 February 1954	3	2	0	1	66.67%
George Swindin	2 February 1954	4 July 1958	217	144	44	29	66.36%
Jimmy Hagan	20 August 1958	18 October 1962	202	130	36	36	64.36%
Johnny Anderson	18 October 1962	31 December 1962	12	8	1	3	66.67%
Jack Fairbrother	1 January 1963	15 February 1964	56	17	14	25	30.36%
Johnny Anderson	15 February 1964	21 April 1964	12	7	3	2	58.33%
Gordon Clark	22 April 1964	28 September 1967	173	71	40	62	41.04%
Norman Rigby	28 September 1967	30 November 1967	12	5	2	5	41.67%
Norman Rigby	1 December 1967	8 January 1969	58	22	15	21	37.93%
Jim Iley	8 January 1969	15 September 1972	182	66	47	69	36.26%
Jim Walker	16 September 1972	11 October 1972	7	0	3	4	00.00%
Noel Cantwell	12 October 1972	10 May 1977	252	105	72	75	41.67%
John Barnwell	10 May 1977	9 November 1978	80	32	30	18	40.00%
Billy Hails	9 November 1978	20 November 1978	3	0	0	3	00.00%
Billy Hails	20 November 1978	5 February 1979	9	1	3	5	11.11%
Billy Hails	9 February 1979	27 February 1979	2	1	0	1	50.00%
Peter Morris	27 February 1979	3 June 1982	178	76	48	54	42.70%
Martin Wilkinson	30 June 1982	28 February 1983	38	14	11	13	33.84%
Bill Harvey	6 November 1982[46]		-	-	-	-
Bill Harvey	1 March 1983	15 May 1983	16	7	3	6	43.75%
John Wile	16 May 1983	1 November 1986	178	69	55	64	33.15%
Lil Fuccillo	1 November 1986	20 November 1986	4	1	2	1	25.00%
Noel Cantwell	20 November 1986	12 July 1988	90	38	22	30	42.22%
Mick Jones	12 July 1988	31 August 1989	59	18	15	26	30.51%
Dave Booth	31 August 1989	6 September 1989	1	0	1	0	00.00%
Mark Lawrenson	6 September 1989	9 November 1990	68	26	24	18	38.24%
Dave Booth	9 November 1990	22 January 1991	17	4	8	5	23.53%
Chris Turner	22 January 1991	18 December 1992	116	56	35	25	48.28%
Lil Fuccillo	18 December 1992	29 December 1993	58	15	19	24	25.86%
Chris Turner	29 December 1993	7 May 1994	28	5	7	14	19.23%
John Still	9 May 1994	24 October 1995	72	21	25	26	29.17%
Mick Halsall	24 October 1995	11 December 1995	9	5	2	2	55.56%
Mick Halsall	12 December 1995	31 May 1996	31	10	6	15	32.26%
Barry Fry	31 May 1996	31 May 2005	488	167	133	188	34.22%
Mark Wright	31 May 2005	24 January 2006	35	12	11	12	34.29%
Steve Bleasdale	24 January 2006	22 April 2006	14	6	1	7	42.86%
Barry Fry	22 April 2006	7 May 2006	3	1	0	2	33.33%
Keith Alexander	30 May 2006	15 January 2007	34	14	7	13	41.18%
Tommy Taylor	15 January 2007	21 January 2007	2	0	0	2	00.00%
Darren Ferguson	21 January 2007	7 November 2009	145	73	32	40	50.34%
Mark Cooper	14 November 2009	1 February 2010	13	1	4	8	7.69%
Jim Gannon	2 February 2010	6 April 2010	14	4	1	9	28.57%
Gary Johnson	6 April 2010	10 January 2011	33	15	4	14	45.45%
David Oldfield	11 January 2011	11 January 2011	1	1	0	0	100.00%
Darren Ferguson	12 January 2011	21 February 2015	222	88	41	93	39.64%
Dave Robertson	21 February 2015	6 September 2015	20	7	5	8	35.00%
Grant McCann	6 September 2015	25 September 2015	2	1	1	0	50.00%
Graham Westley	25 September 2015	23 April 2016	41	18	6	17	43.90%
Grant McCann	23 April 2016	8 May 2016	2	2	0	0	100.00%
Grant McCann	16 May 2016	25 February 2018	104	41	27	36	39.40%
David Oldfield	25 February 2018	28 February 2018	1	1	0	0	100.00%
Steve Evans	28 February 2018	26 January 2019	52	21	15	16	40.38%
Darren Ferguson	26 January 2019	20 February 2022	116	59	24	33	50.86%
Matthew Etherington	20 February 2022	24 February 2022	1	0	0	1	00.00%
Grant McCann	24 February 2022	4 January 2023	48	18	8	22	37.50%
Darren Ferguson	4 January 2023	Present	106	60	17	29	56.60%

Best performances

• Best FA Cup performance: Quarter-finals, 1964–65
• Best League Cup performance: Semi-finals, 1965–66

Individual records

• Most league appearances: Tommy Robson, 482 (440 starts and 42 as a substitute), 1968–1981^[8]
• Most consecutive appearances: Eric Steele, 148 (124 League, 24 Cup),^[8] 1973–1977
• Most league goals: Jim Hall, 122, 1967–1975
• Most league goals (incl. non-League): Dennis Emery, 195, 1954–1963
• Most league goals in one season: Terry Bly, 52, 1960–61 (also an all-time Fourth Division record)^[8]
• Highest transfer fee received: A fee around £7m (rising to £10m) from Brentford for Ivan Toney, August 2020
• Highest transfer fee paid: A fee exceeding £1.25m to Bristol City for Mo Eisa, June 2019^[47]

Source:^[48][49]

League

• Third Division / League One (level 3)
  • Runners-up: 2008–09, 2020–21
  • Play-off winners: 1992, 2011
• Fourth Division / Third Division / League Two (level 4)
  • Champions: 1960–61, 1973–74
  • Runners-up: 1990–91, 2007–08
  • Play-off winners: 2000
• Midland League
  • Champions: 1939–40, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60

Cup

• Football League Trophy / EFL Trophy
  • Winners: 2013–14, 2023–24

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peterborough United F.C..

• Peterborough United F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
• Official website
• Largest Supporter Forum
• Every match result and League table since they joined the Football League
• Peterborough United at the Football Club History Database
• UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database
• Un-Official Posh Fans Podcast
• Peterborough United Supporters FC (PUSFC)