The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Fry defends his club’s recruitment strategy
Posh director of football Barry Fry has launched a passionate defence of the club’s recruitment strategy in the wake of criticism from some fans irritated by a season-long battle against relegation from the Championship. Chiarman Darragh MacAnthony, Fry and manager Darren Ferguson are the men in control of squad strengthening.
And Fry went as far as describing his colleagues as ‘millionaire makers,’ using the deadline day sale of Siriki Dembele to Bournemouth to help make his case.
“Siriki Dembele will become a millionaire because of the contract he has now signed at Bournemouth,” Fry said.
“This is a player we took on from Grimsby and developed into a player good enough to sign for a club chasing promotion to the Premier League.
“I reckon Dembele is the 15th player to become a millionaire after being with us and we also have three or four players at the club who we could have sold for millions already.
“I know we have been getting criticism for our recruitment, but it’s unfair. At our (financial) level the chairman’s recruitment is second to none and the manager is second to none in the way he develops players.
“We are a selling club and we are still getting money in from players we sold years ago. We get a payment every time (Forest Green striker) Matty Stevens gets 10 goals for instance.
“I’ve been doing transfers for 50 years and this window was the worst I’ve ever experienced.
“We had a recruitment meeting and the manager asked about four players with Championship or Premier League experience and when I made enquiries they were on between £20k-£42k each which is out of our range.
“The five players we signed on loan in January though Steven Benda, Bali Mumba, Hayden Coulson, Reece Brown and Callum Morton - were all on more money at their clubs and they have waived wages, while their agents have waived their usual fees which is the sort of commitment we need now.”
Posh insist they received more than the reported £1.5 million for Dembele, a player who cost Posh aroun £200k in July, 2018.
Fry: ‘At our level our recruitment is second to none.’