08:35 Friday 2nd August 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
[S]TEVE JACKSON: Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson has ordered his squad to aim high ahead of the new League One season. Posh get underway against Swindon tomorrow. They’re among the favourites for promotion following their relegation from the Championship back in may. Given their quality, Ferguson’s urged his side to concentrate on their own performances. (TAPE)
DARREN FERGUSON: Other opposition, I can speak about them. Swindon, I know their strengths and their weaknesses, what I feel could be weaknesses anyway. It’s about us. It’s about us getting consistent in the season. It’s about us hitting the ground running. Before I would say March and December, really pivotal months. They still will be this season, but perhaps August could be the most important one this season. (LIVE)
STEVE JACKSON: Striker Lee Tomlin’s been passed fit ahead of tomorrow’s match, while record signing Britt Assombalonga will also be included in the squad. Defender Mark Little penned a new one year deal yesterday, so could be involved. Posh owner Darragh MacAnthony says his club is fully prepared for what lies ahead. (TAPE)
DARRAGH MACANTHONY: I’m very confident they’re going to have a very good season. There’s going to be highs and lows of course, but we’ve got to find consistency. We’ve got to start well. We’ve got to finish strong. But we’ve got to be really consistent. Most importantly we all have to be in it together as well, because we know League One. We’ve been there, seen it and done it before. And it’s not all going to go to plan. It never does when you run a football club, but we’re very confident in what we have inside the football club, and the players with the bit between their teeth, that we’re going to be back in the Championship in nine months time.
08:40
[P]AUL STAINTON: (MUSICAL PLAY ON THE NAME ASSOMBALONGA) It’s going to take a bit of pronouncing for our commentators. Edwin Overland our Posh commentator is here. Morning sir.
EDWIN OVERLAND: Good morning to you.
PAUL STAINTON: On the eve of yet another new season.
EDWIN OVERLAND: Yes. Yet another. Where did that summer go? It seems like a fortnight. Well it wasn’t much more really was it?
PAUL STAINTON: No. And of course the disappointment of the Championship has gone, and there will be many Posh fans listening this morning thinking it’s a foregone conclusion this, getting back up.
EDWIN OVERLAND: You must never do that. But I think fans are right to be optimistic, but I think there has to be .. it’s a case of guarded optimism really, isn’t it? But yes, they can be optimistic, based on the fact that twice before Posh have got promoted out of League One. And you know with Darren Ferguson you never get a nothing season. There’s always something happening. There’s always a real target, whether it be promotion, or whether it be attempting to stay up. What Darren Ferguson hasn’t achieved yet is going up as champions. So I think he’s probably right to throw that out as being a realistic target for the Posh this year, based on the fact that, as I say, they’ve got the experience of having done it before, and it is virtually the same squad, isn’t it, this season, as last year. And last year they came within just a whicker of staying in the Championship. Had that terrific run at the end of the season. So I think we can all be confident.
PAUL STAINTON: That last day was a real roller-coaster, wasn’t it?
EDWIN OVERLAND: Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: They were safe, they weren’t, they were ..
EDWIN OVERLAND: Yes. Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: And as you say, the squad essentially, with the exception of Dwight Gayle, is the same. And now they’ve got the addition of this young lad, who many people think is a great striker.
EDWIN OVERLAND: Well I think a few days ago, looking for somebody to replace Dwight Gayle, it was looking tricky, wasn’t it? And everybody knew that they desperately needed a striker to bring in. And obviously they’re saying that that was the long term target. He is the one. He was the one that they were really seeking to get. So I think everybody’s pleased that he’s going to .. and he seems to fit the criteria doesn’t he, that Posh have attached to other signings that they’ve made in recent years. Aaron McLean, CMS, George Boyd, Dwight Gayle, that well-worn trodden path of looking to leagues below, or even to non-league, and bringing in youngsters, bringing in players with energy, with a pedigree for scoring goals, albeit at a lower level. And with the right sort of attitude and everything. And obviously this fellow looks as if he really does fit the bill. So a lot of expectancy of him, but he’ll be good enough, strong enough, I’m sure.
PAUL STAINTON: But they don’t always buy well when it comes to strikers. I’m thinking of Mr Softy.
EDWIN OVERLAND: You’re going to get one or two like that. You are going to get one or two. You’re never going to be 100%. No manager, not even the best in the world, is ever going to be 100%. But I think in the case of Posh in recent years, they haven’t been far off the mark. There’s been the odd error, but it has only been the odd one Paul. Generally the good signings have far far outweighed the odd ones that they’ve brought in that really haven’t cut the mustard.
PAUL STAINTON: Got to get off to a good start though this season. That’s what did for them last year.
EDWIN OVERLAND: Yes. Obviously. Obviously. It’s got to be a good start. And just listening to Darragh MacAnthony there, it’s hard to add anything really to what he said, because I thought he said it all in about sixty seconds really. The idea this year is consistency. That is the key word. It always is. You’ve got to be consistent. It’s no good having a run of three or four games and then go into three and lose them. You’ve got to be consistent to stay up there in the reckoning. And the other thing, as he says, it’s quite right too, they have got the experience. they have got that added bonus on their side of having done it before. They know this league. They’ve done it before. A lot of these players have done it before, and know this league. So there’s quite a lot on their side. Mind you, having said that, people up and down the country will be having this exactly this kind of conversation this morning, won’t they, and today and tomorrow morning, of thinking their team is good, it’s better, and they’ve got a chance and all the rest of it. Obviously you start the season level pegging with everybody else, and full of hope. But I do think that that Posh, yes, they have got a good chance this year of having a very very good successful season.
PAUL STAINTON: Not quite as glamorous for you though. You won’t get the nice trips to City ground Nottingham and places like that. You won’t get those nice trips. You’ll be going to far flung places again.
EDWIN OVERLAND: It doesn’t matter. It’s still Posh. It’s still football. I’ve always loved the job. I’ve done it for thirty odd years now. And I’m just pleased to be around to have another season or two.
PAUL STAINTON: We’re glad you are as well. We love having you on the show. Edwin, thank you again.
EDWIN OVERLAND: Thanks Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Edwin Overland, lovely man. Lovely, lovely man. And you can listen of course to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire from two tomorrow, if you can’t make it to the game. Adi’s been on. Says “Quick mention if you don’t mind for Posh Independent Supporters’ Association 2000 on the eve of yet another football season. We’ll be opening our headquarters at Ebenezer’s on Grove Street from twelve o’clock in Peterborough tomorrow. Cheap beer and food. Lots of Posh memorabilia. Big screen for live games, all PISA’s famous DVDs and rubbish banter from fellow Posh fans. A fiver for the year, or a pound for under-16s, at Ebenezers tomorrow from twelve.”
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