Former Stevenage manager Graham Westley has today emerged as the favourite to take over as the new boss at Peterborough United. Yesterday the club announced that Dave Robertson had been relieved of his duties following a poor start to the season.
Southend Echo reporter Chris Phillips, who watched Robertson’s final game in charge against Southend United, said that Westley was in the crowd at Roots Hall on Saturday. Former Posh boss Darren Ferguson was also suggested as a potential replacement for Robertson, but he has confirmed to the BBC that he won’t be returning for a third spell as manager.
@PTAlanSwann And Graham Westley was at the game yesterday 🙂
— Chris Phillips (@CJPhillips1982) September 6, 2015
47-year-old Westley led Stevenage to the League Two play-off’s last season, losing out to Southend United in the semi-final. He had a brief spell in charge of Preston North End between two spells at Broadhall Way, and he certainly made his name in management at Boro. He won the Conference Premier in 2010 and earned promotion to League Two via the play-off’s in 2011.
Overall his record in management in extremely impressive, falling just below a 50% win ratio in just over 800 games in the game. He began his management career in charge of Kingstonian and later moved on to Enfield. A highly successful spell at Farnborough Town would follow, where he won the Isthmian League Premier Division in 2001 and led the club to the FA Cup Fourth Round, only to be knocked out by Arsenal.
Since then he has enjoyed three spells at Stevenage and had brief spells at Rushden & Diamonds, Kettering Town and Preston along the way. Originally installed as favourite for the Peterborough job was Rotherham United manager Steve Evans. It is well-documented that he lives in the area and attends home games whenever he gets the opportunity. However we recently revealed news that he expects to remain at Rotherham for ‘many years to come’.
Everything is pointing towards Westley potentially taking charge at ABAX Stadium. The statement revealed by the club on Sunday said that assistant Grant McCann and the coaching staff will prepare the team for the trip to Oldham on Saturday. It remains to be seen if Westley will be in the crowd watching that game, or potentially in the dugout as well.
