After Darren Ferguson decided to mutually end his stint as manager at Peterborough at the weekend, the Championship side are now on the lookout for a new boss.

The side, who are currently flirting with relegation, are keeping their options open and are currently in the process of seeing who to appoint to take them forward for the rest of the year.

With the search ongoing though, it means that there will not be a permanent appointment in place by the time Peterborough face off against Fulham in midweek. It means that Matthew Etherington, who has previously never managed a side, will be in charge for the fixture as reported by BBC Sport.

 

 

The former Stoke man has been with Posh for a while now, having worked his way up through the ranks after he retired from playing. He began coaching with the team's Under-18 side before working his way up to an assistant coaching role.

Now, with the side in need of someone to lead the team in the interim, it looks as if he will be handed the main job until they can locate their next permanent boss.

It also means that, come the game against Fulham, Etherington will be taking charge of his very first game as a manager. He'll therefore be hoping to make a good impression and come away with something against a side that will be extremely hard to break down.

If he can manage even a point against the Cottagers though, then that will be seen as a success for the club.

The Verdict

Matthew Etherington has little to no experience in the management game but that isn't anything to worry about considering he will only be leading the side temporarily.

The former player though will want to make a good impression - and if he picks up some points during his time at the helm, who is to say he might not land the role until the end of the season? It's happened at plenty of clubs in the past.

Etherington has certainly done his rounds in terms of coaching and has worked his way up through the ranks with Posh too - so knows how the team works, how they function and what is needed to get the best out of them.

It'll therefore be interesting to see if he switches things up for the Fulham game and tries something new to try and get an eye-catching result or whether he will stick largely with the same tactics Darren Ferguson used and be merely a stopgap between appointments.