WRITE US OFF AT YOUR PERIL, SAYS BOSS GRANT
UPBEAT new Peterborough United boss Grant McCann believes there is ‘huge potential’ at the club – and is targeting a great escape from relegation.
The 41-year-old has previously played for and managed Posh, and has returned to replace Darren Ferguson following his resignation last weekend.
Heading into the weekend, Peterborough were second from bottom, eight points from safety, but ex-Doncaster and Hull boss McCann doesn’t believe it’s a lost cause.
“I know a lot of the players here already,” he explained. “I tried to sign seven or eight of them in the summer as that’s how highly I rate them.
“The league table might not suggest it, but there is a lot of talent here and it’s my job to bring it out of them. A lot of them have come through the academy which is pleasing and I know the group and the staff very well.
“It’s great to see that many have stayed even since I was a player here. I believe there is huge potential here.
“There will be no big predictions. We are taking it one game at a time and we will see where we end up, but no-one is giving this season up.
“That’s the message I gave the players. Everyone on the outside will have written us off, but let’s just wait and see.”
Co-owner Stewart Thompson believes Peterborough are doing the right thing by turning to McCann again.
He said: “There’s lots of ways to do transition, one is to do a hard stop and go in a completely different direction, and that was something we did not want to do.
“We’re super-excited that Grant is here to continue the work we’ve started with some of the foundation we have in place and look forward to working for a number of years with him - it’s not an interim, it’s long term.
“You get the usual managers call you up and approach you, but we had a very good conversation about who we wanted to approach.”
McCann won the League One title with Hull, ahead of Peterborough, last season, but was sacked last month following the Tigers’ takeover by the Turkish-based Acun Medya Group.