Director of Portsmouth's League One rivals Peterborough feeling 'bitter' and 'cheated' out of promotion

Barry Fry believes Peterborough are being ‘cheated’ out of League One promotion.
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And the Posh director of football reckons the EFL should have proposed a weighted points-per-game method if the 2019-20 season is to be curtailed.

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Positions will be decided by an unweighted points-per-game system should the majority of clubs decide against carrying on, however.

Promotion and relegation would still apply, with a traditional four-team play-off remaining in place instead of a mooted extended tournament.

That’ll see Coventry and Rotherham automatically going into the Championship, while Pompey, Fleetwood, Wycombe and Oxford will battle for the remaining spot to go up in the play-offs.

Peterborough have been steadfast that the campaign should be completing, having formed a six-strong collective with the Blues last week.

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Fry admits the Posh ‘need a miracle’ for that to happen – and it’s a cruel way to decide the season.

Peterborough director Barry Fry, right. Picture: Joe PeplerPeterborough director Barry Fry, right. Picture: Joe Pepler
Peterborough director Barry Fry, right. Picture: Joe Pepler

Speaking to the Peterborough Telegraph, Fry said: ‘We need 12 clubs to vote our way. It would be a miracle if that happened.

‘I feel bitter right now. This outcome is completely unfair and goes against the integrity of the competition. It’s a sickener for the club.

‘Points per game is a nonsense. At least use a formula that includes home form, away form and the games you still have to play at home and away.

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‘We’ve been cheated. We’ve been denied the chance to finish what we started by the EFL who have not been strong enough and by clubs who don’t want to play football.

‘I feel for our chairman who is one in a million and his co-owners who have also been superb throughout this crisis. Those three sat down in January when we could have sold three players for a combined fee of £12 million, but they wouldn’t because they wanted to win promotion for our fans.

‘I also feel for those fans who have supported the club brilliantly this season and continue to support us by buying season tickets for next season even when we didn’t know what division we were in.

‘And I feel for Darren Ferguson who has built a great squad and who now does not get to try and guide them to promotion. We might not have gone up, but to even be denied the chance to try is absurd.

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‘It’s not just our club either. I feel for Tranmere who will be relegated even though they’d won their last three matches to get to within three points, and with a game in hand, of safety.

‘It’s a cruel and unfair way to decide anything, but we will have to use the setback as motivation for next season.’

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony has previously told the EFL to prepare for a ‘legal battle of epic proportions’ should the season be ended prematurely.

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