New Posh coach surprised by the attitude and quality of his new side

New Posh first-team coach Dale Tonge has said that he has been both pleased and surprised with the attitude and quality of the club’s squad since he arrived.

Tonge was brought to the club by Grant McCann two weeks ago to bolster the club’s coaching options.

The 36-year-old has experience both of coaching in both League One and the Championship, having been present at Barnsley when they won promotion during the 2018/2019 season. He then followed Daniel Stendel to Hearts and had been out of work since June 2020, when the pair left the club.

Tonge says that he has been impressed with what he has seen from Posh’s squad so far. He singled out the players’ attitude, something he did not expect to be so good given the club’s lowly league position.

He said: “I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far. The boys have shown a great attitude, considering the position of the club. More often than not, you think the dressing room would be quite low, but the spirits are high and that’s testament to the Grant and Cliff. They’ve managed to keep the players positive and the players have been excellent.

“It’s a really positive environment where people are going to be challenged but also given licence to express themselves and I think you get the best out of any human doing that and hopefully it is the perfect recipe.

“I’ve been really impressed with them in the few days I have worked with them, not just with their attitude but with the actual ability they have got. It’s one of those where you probably don’t realise how good they are until you work with them. They are a really good group and I’m looking forward to working with them going forward.

He has also praised management

duo Grant McCann and Cliff Byrne , who are in their third job together after working together previously at Doncaster and Hull.

He hopes to learn from the pair given that he is still young, despite taking on his first part-time coaching role at Barnsley in 2015, aged just 29.

He added: “I’m still young and have got lots to learn but I can see from coming into work that the gaffer and Cliffy have very good experience working as a partnership and that’s something for me to learn from and hopefully add my little bit to as well.

“I hope that when people meet me they have a positive experience because I like to have a laugh but at the same time, they know where the line is drawn. Ultimately, there’s an opportunity for more than one voice, they know that the main voice is the gaffer’s but they know that me and Cliffy are there to speak to as well, which can definitely help in this environment.”

New Posh first-team coach Dale Tonge.