Peterborough United’s transfer plans have been dealt a blow by Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League.
Posh were left disappointed to see neither Sheffield United nor Coventry come out on top in the Championship play-offs last month as a victory for either would have seen Posh earn £1m from clauses in the contracts of both Harrison Burrows and Ephron Mason-Clark.
Unfortunately for Posh, Coventry were beaten 3-2 over two legs in the semi-final, despite a Mason-Clark goal in the second leg, while Sheffield United led the final before being beaten 2-1 in stoppage time by a Tommy Watson strike. Burrows thought he had put Sheffield United 2-0 up in the first half but VAR controversially denied him another Wembley wondergoal.
This left Posh with no bonuses coming in; money which could have provided wiggle room in the budget cap to complete a couple of further moves before the end of June.
Sunderland celebrate promotion to the Premier League (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images).Sunderland celebrate promotion to the Premier League (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images).
Sunderland celebrate promotion to the Premier League (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images).
Posh Chairman Darragh MacAnthony has insisted that the club is operating at the top end of its budget gap especially with the wages of departing stars Kwame Poku, Ricky-Jade Jones and Hector Kyprianou remaining on Posh’s books until the beginning of July.
Current Salary Cost Management Protocol rules allow League One clubs to spend 60% of their turnover on wages and transfer fees.
Speaking on his Hard Truth Podcast, MacAnthony said: “Sunderland magically f***** us by beating Coventry and Sheffield United. Fair play and congratulations to them, they deserved promotion but we got punished by the football gods again.
Everyone knows we had seven figures on each player. It’s not that we needed the money- of course we needed the money- but our salary is close to the cap.
“We have Hector, Kwame and Ricky leaving but they’re still on our wage cap until the end of June so we are stacked. Hector doesn’t start at Watford until July we his hefty wages are on us in June.
“That promotion (for Sunderland or Coventry) would have opened things up a bit for us. It would have given us flexibility with our pay matrix to be able to sign players. We run tight to the cap.
“I want to do deals both ways but there is a frustration at the moment but that will ease up. Me and Barry are working night on deals.
“I am very confident that by the time we report back on go to St George’s Park on the 30th June, we will have four of five new faces. Then in July we will probably add another three of four as things change with the cap.”
Posh have signed just one player so far this summer, 21-yearold Kyrell Lisbie has arrived from National League side Braintree Town.
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