'Blame me': Chairman explains why Portsmouth were handed 4,000 tickets for Peterborough game - and why it can't be used as excuse for costly defeat

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony has entered the discussion on the number of tickets Pompey were allocated for last Saturday’s 1-0 win at the Weston Homes Stadium.

The Posh co-owner said he understood where manager Darren Ferguson was coming from when he criticised the decision to grant the Blues more than 4,000 seats for the important game. But siding with the club’s head of ticketing - who took to social media to defend the stance taken - McAnthony conceded the club were not in the position to turn down the extra revenue that was guaranteed by opening up more space in the ground for Pompey supporters.

He admitted that was his decision amid a time when Peterborough are losing £3-4m a year and are still awaiting money from Ephron Mason-Clark’s January transfer to Coventry. The Irishman also insisted the number of Blues fans in the away end was not the reason why his side lost to John Mousinho’s table-toppers.

Speaking on the latest episode of his The Hard Truth podcast, MacAnthony said: ‘The stuff about the ticket allocation was a storm in a teacup. Our manager was passionate after the game and I get where he was coming from as he had his “football” head on. But he also understands the club’s decision. Our ticket man, Chris (Brewer), replied on social media. Chris should never have to defend anything he or his staff do as they are brilliant at their jobs.

‘You can blame me for the tickets decision. We are a business that loses £3m to £4m a year and we can’t turn down any opportunity to raise revenue. We sold a player in January, but we haven’t been paid yet and we’d have missed out on £55k if we hadn’t let Portsmouth fans have the end behind the goal. 

‘We can’t turn down that sort of excess revenue which is why we agreed to move our Stevenage game to a Wednesday to make £30k in TV money. We still had tickets for sale on the morning of the game in our areas and that’s not a slight on our fans who have backed up superbly this season.

‘But the crowd didn’t dictate the Portsmouth result. It didn’t dictate why we won or lost. If we had 25k fans, decisions like this would be a lot easier, but again that’s not a criticism of our supporters. It’s where we are as a club, but we also have a fanbase that is growing which is pleasing.”

MacAnthony said a below-par performance from Posh’s forward department  - a front four he previously stated was the best in the EFL - let Peterborough down against the Blues.

‘We were excellent defensively and in midfield, but our forward line was blunt and that hasn’t happened very often this season,’ MacAnthony added.

‘Portsmouth defended very well. They are very good at what they do. They have been top of League One for a long time for a reason, but if our front players had turned up we would have won comfortably.

‘This was our chance to see if we were ready to win a league title and the answer is probably ‘no,’ but we didn’t get dominated and we now move on.’

Pompey were initially handed 2,300 seats in the GH Display Stand behind one of the goals for the League One contest. But that figure was later increased by 1,600, with Posh opening up two blocks in the Main Stand to cope with Blues demand.

Pompey fans were rewarded with a 1-0 victory that moves them a major step closer to a return to the Championship. For Ferguson & Co, who sit fourth in the table - seven points behind Derby and 13 behind John Mousinho’s side table-toppers - it means the play-offs are likely to be their best route back to the second tier.

Saturday’s attendance at the Weston Homes Stadium was 12,774, with the 4,019 travelling Blues fans present representing nearly a third of the crowd inside the ground. Posh’s home has a capacity of 15,314. Their biggest crowd of the season to date was the 12,927 who took in their FA Cup third-round exit at the hands of Leeds back in January.

Posh have an average home attendance of 9,062 this season, compared to Pompey’s average of 18,713.