Well known outspoken EFL boss set to leave Sunderland's former League One rivals

MacAnthony made the announcement during the latest edition of his ‘Hard Truth’ podcast in which he has talked regularly about Sunderland and other clubs.

The 46-year-old has owned Posh since October, 2006 and has overseen a promotion to League One from League Two, plus three promotions to the Championship, and three relegations back to League One.

MacAnthony said on his podcast recently: “Football will not be a priority for me next summer. My family have taken a back seat to Posh for too long so next summer I won’t be at the football club.

"I’m not the sort of person who can own something and take a back seat. That would drive me crazy. I have to be all in so I will need to sell and start doing stuff with my family.

"Whether or not my partners buy me out or someone else does we will see. It will hopefully be a chance for someone else to try different ideas with recruitment in the Championship because ideally, I want to bow out with another promotion.

"When my third child was born I flew straight out and went to watch Posh beat Leicester 2-0 in the season we went up automatically from League One. I can’t do that anymore.

“In the next 18 months, my son and my daughter will start college. I’ve missed too much time with them because of football.”

MacAnthony backed Sunderland to finish in the Championship’s top six at the start of this season following the club’s promotion last year under Alex Neil, who has since been replaced by Tony Mowbray.

Sunderland averaged a higher attendance than anyone in the second division last season despite playing in League One and will likely remain top of the attendance charts outside of the Premier League at the end of this campaign.

He said: “[Sunderland] are top six favourites. I think they’ve got a really strong manager, I think they’ve got a core of some good young players. I think they’ve got a goal scorer in the 'Lochness Drogba' (Ross Stewart), who will do well at that level because of the physicality - he’s a physical player.

“They’ve got a nice gel, a nice mixture and because it’s a club that size they’re now on the up. And when a club that size is on the up, what usually happens is it goes fast. Do not be shocked if they’re top six next season.

“As Luton have just showed, when you’ve got the right team spirit, right camaraderie - one thing I’ve noticed about Neil since he’s gone in there, he’s made them a lot more resilient defensively. One thing we [Peterborough] learned in the Championship is you’ve got to be resilient defensively.

“They always have the advantage that when people come to their place, there’s 40,000 Mackems screaming, shouting and supporting them. That’s worth points on the board. I would put money on them finishing top six.”