Peterborough chairman predicts how Portsmouth's summer spending will compare to Sunderland, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday

And the Irishman sees the third tier as a 'frightening place' next season given the strength of the division.

Sheffield Wednesday Rotherham, Wycombe and Bolton are all joining heavyweight such as Pompey, Sunderland, Ipswich and Charlton who remain in League One and will again be bidding to go up.

With Peterborough delivering automatic promotion in the 2020-21 campaign, MacAnthony's relieved his side have escaped the division when they did.

He expects clubs like Wednesday, Sunderland and Ipswich to splash the cash in the transfer market.

However, he's unsure if owner Michael Eisner will afford Pompey that luxury.

Danny Cowley is having a reduced playing budget compared to the funds given to Kenny Jackett prior to the scrapped salary cap.

Speaking on his podcast, The Hard Truth, MacAnthony said: ‘League One is a frightening place next season. You can name 10 ex-Premier League clubs.

‘Where do I start? Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Sunderland, Bolton have just gone up.

‘It's a graveyard of ex-Premier League teams. I said at the start of the season: "We need to get out of this league this year, it is getting tougher and tougher".

‘If a Burton Albion or a Morecambe goes up next year, it's a miracle because there are some big, big clubs. It'll be interesting to see who they recruit in the summer.

‘We haven't even spoken about Wigan. Wigan will spend money, Ipswich will spend money, Sunderland will spend money, Sheffield Wednesday is owned by a wealthy guy who'll want to get back on the saddle again.

‘Portsmouth, owned by the Eisners, I don't know if they will spent that kind of money. But, again, big club and I'm sure I've missed another big boy.

‘Lincoln will go again, I haven't even mentioned Oxford. There are a lot of big clubs and that's the way it goes.’

Pompey are preparing for a fifth successive season in League One.

However, when the Blues beat Peterborough 2-0 at Fratton Park in December, MacAnthony thought they'd go on and firmly be in the promotion mix.

He added: ‘Portsmouth hadn't recruited loads of different players, had kind of been the nearly well and knew Kenny would be under pressure if they didn't do well.

‘When they beat us earlier in the season, I thought they'd kick on. They were on the ascendency, we were on the decendency playing badly.

‘Whatever went on there, it didn't work for them.’