MacAnthony: I Am F*****g Stunned By Szmodics Deal!
Wednesday, 21st Aug 2024 14:40

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony says he was stunned when he heard Town had recruited former Posh forward Sammie Szmodics from Blackburn Rovers for as little as £9 million, and £9 million spread over a period of time rather than up front.

TWTD was first to reveal that Town and Rovers had finally agreed a deal on Friday evening after more than a month of negotiations. Szmodics made his Premier League debut in Saturday’s 2-0 home loss to Liverpool.

McAnthony revealed that Posh are due 15 per cent of the profit Blackburn make on the £1.8 million plus add-ons the Lancastrians paid for the Republic of Ireland forward in the summer of 2022 with his previous club, Bristol City, receiving 20 per cent of that.

“A great move for him. I cannot believe that deal. I am f*****g stunned. I was stunned. Nine million quid!” MacAnthony said in his The Hard Truth podcast.

“I don’t give a f*** if he’s 28, if you did your homework, he’s the type of player who will play until he’s 35 based on how he plays.

“I cannot believe for the life of me why some of the top teams in the Championship - and Ipswich is a massive club, don’t get me wrong - but there are some big clubs in the Champ. I cannot believe nobody, nobody went in and sniffed at £12, £13 or £14 million.

“I said the other day, when you pay over three years or four years and you add the player’s wages in, you’re probably talking about £5 million a year on a four-year deal or whatever.

“For a player that basically will guarantee you top six in the Champ, which gives you a one in four chance of the play-offs and getting to the Premier League or one in two if you’re in the top two of going up automatically. I cannot f*****g believe it.

“For a player to go for that kind of money, I don’t know what’s gone on with the market this summer because I’ve seen players who are half that player go for £15, £16, £17 million from the Champ. I don’t know what’s going on.

“The worst part is, people say it might be a flash in the pan. The m*********r was already leading goalscorer in cup and league games this season inside one and a half sub appearances or whatever. I can’t believe it.

“Then I couldn’t believe, fair play to Ipswich, that it wasn’t even up front, it was all over time because we’ve got to wait for our segment.

“When I get the text through with the amounts from Baz [director of football Barry Fry], I thought somebody had made a f*****g helluva bid for one of our players. I thought it was the payment and rang Barry and I said, ‘F*****g hell! Four [million] up front or whatever else’. And Barry was like, ‘No, no, no…’.”

He added: “A helluva deal for Ipswich, a helluva deal for the boy because he’s from that neck of the woods, Colchester, Ipswich is down the road.

“I’m proud as anything because you’ve got Ronnie [Edwards] in the Premier League [at Southampton], Jack Taylor in the Premier League [with Town], Ivan [Toney] in the Premier League [Brentford], Sammie in the Premier League. All those players were with us around Covid.

“Quite a few of them we might have paid seven figures for but they were all with us around Covid and Harrison [Burrows] could be there next year.”

MacAnthony says Szmodics playing for Blackburn in their first three games of the season despite hardly having any pre-season was illustrative of his character, as was his desire to drop from the Championship for a loan spell in League One at Oxford in order to play football during a spell at London Road when he was out of the team.

“He’s a proper football character, that’s why he will have an EFL Hall of Fame career,” the Dubliner continued.

“That’s why he will make it work in the Premier League because of his will to win, his resilience, his dedication.

“He’s going to be a terrific signing for Ipswich. F*****g Ipswich, fair play to them, they’re really having a go, I have to say, very, very impressive what they’re doing.

“And apparently, I read the match report, and they were very good for a long period of time against Liverpool.

“Really, really good. I wish everyone at Ipswich really well and I hope Sammie kills it there and maybe he’ll win the Golden Boot in the Premier League and he’ll go for £50 million next summer, who knows!”

Photo: Matchday Images

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Bluemike31 added 14:44 - Aug 21 Can't stand this loud mouth fool
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Jeff added 14:46 - Aug 21 I'm glad we don't have to put up with this clown,week in week out! Hopefully we'll hear from Mark Ashton around Christmas time, in the meantime, he is busy working, rather than commenting on other team's transfer business.
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knudsen added 14:46 - Aug 21 I'm guessing this wasn't a BBC Breakfast interview!
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Kilterums added 14:46 - Aug 21 I think it's hilarious!!!
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britbiker added 14:46 - Aug 21 But what did you think about the transfer fee -)
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runningout added 14:47 - Aug 21 can’t believe how sensitive some people are
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Edmundo added 14:48 - Aug 21 Gracious on the face of it but smarting that his cut - and Posh always get their pound of flesh - isn't as much as he wanted.
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AbujaBlue added 14:51 - Aug 21 Foul-mouthed yes, but also very complementary of Ipswich in his own way. He's ranting because he thinks Pboro could have got a lot more for him in this deal. Quite funny really.
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Europablue added 14:52 - Aug 21

Ashton judged the market and paid a reasonable fee. Why would a player be interested in a bid from even Leeds if he can get a guaranteed shot at the Prem with us near his family?
I also think that McAnthony is wrong. The player is worth a certain amount over the time that he will be at the club and what he can contribute, but the truly expensive players are the younger ones with really good sell-on value. If Scmodics has a great season he will be worth 25 million, tops.

Marcus added 14:54 - Aug 21 Don't hold back, please share exactly what you think! Also, I'm not sure the word 'mother' needs starring.
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Europablue added 14:54 - Aug 21 It's funny how Peterborough have had some really good talent in the past several years, but they haven't been able to build on that and establish themselves as the Brighton of the Championship. If you get those players into the Championship and they perform at that level, a 1 million player becomes a 10 to 20 million player.
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Gforce added 15:08 - Aug 21 Kind words indeed from Macanthony ,hopefully Szmodics will do the business and prove him right.ive a feeling if played to his strengths, he could score more than enough to keep us up.
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ArnieM added 15:11 - Aug 21 LOL and LOL again. He's just pissed off because they won't so much money znd what they will get will likely be drip fed, and nobrrdl use to them. LOL!!
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Suffolk_n_Proud added 15:17 - Aug 21 “For a player that basically will guarantee you top six in the Champ Didn't guarantee Blackburn or Peterborough did it
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thevoiceofreason added 15:20 - Aug 21 Is this the same bloke who said Jack Taylor would help propel Town to the Premier League? Didn’t see much evidence of that, or did I miss something?
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Cadiar added 15:24 - Aug 21 That's the difference between us & Posh. We have a hard nosed guy in Ashton who must be a nightmare to negotiate with. Some deals he's pulled off are brilliant judging by this clown's response MA has done it again. Pp
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JewellintheTown added 15:27 - Aug 21 Club should start a swear jar for MacAnthony. They'd have enough money to buy him back in a couple of seasons.
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blues1 added 15:34 - Aug 21

Europablue. Rather contradicting urself there. In ur1st post you basically intimate that you dont think Szmodics is worth £10m+. In ur next u say players who perform well in the championship can go from a £1m player, to one worth £10-20m. Well Szmodics has performed well in the championship, and not just last season, tho exceptional last season. So must be worth somewhat more than we've got him for mustn't he?

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victorysquad added 15:34 - Aug 21 I do think MacAnthony is a bit like Warnock and has a soft spot for us.
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Marcus added 15:37 - Aug 21 @victorysquad - I'm sure I'm not the only one who's evolved from hating 'Colin' to wry smiles.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 15:38 - Aug 21 Nonsense!!
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Help added 15:39 - Aug 21 Expressive isn't he
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blueboy1981 added 15:41 - Aug 21 …… I totally agree with him - Sammy always had that potential, and should have been at Portman Road long before now ! Cracking signing, if played to his strengths - and that is Important !!
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