Football Season Guide

It was more of the usual for Peterborough last time around, as the Posh started the season like a runaway train, but slowed down over time and ended up missing on a play-off place. They once again had a managerial change midway through a campaign, but the board decided to take a different route this time, and offered Darren Ferguson a three-year contract; with the goal set for him to establish the Posh as a Championship club. This is his third spell at Peterborough - he managed to win promotions to the second tier in each of the previous two; but the Posh always end up back in League One and he will now try to break that cycle. Obviously, the Posh have to get into the second tier to think about how to stay there and it is hardly a surprise that they have undergone a summer clear-out, with Ferguson making the squad his own. Several loan players are back with their parent clubs, but the sole truly important man to have left is Ryan Tafazolli, who joins former manager Grant McCann at Hull. As usual, the Posh have made punts on several players from lower leagues - this is something that they are historically excellent at and one of the new arrivals could well prove to be their next multi-million pound transfer. However, they have also brought in proven League One quality in Mark Beevers and Frankie Kent, as well as George Boyd, who spent six years at the club and returns to the Posh after six seasons with Championship sides. Ferguson has been given free reign to make the squad his own and, given his track record, it is difficult to dismiss Peterborough as promotion contenders.