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Beleaguered Posh heading for a quick return to League One
PETERBOROUGH United's brief flirtation with the Championship is nearing an end.
Rock-bottom Posh are 13 points adrift of safety having won just five matches all season.
Jim Gannon, Peterborough's third manager in the space of four months, accepted their relegation fate in the wake of their 1-0 defeat to Coventry on Saturday.
"We have to put ourselves out of our misery and accept that we are going down," said Gannon, who has won two of his opening six matches since replacing Mark Cooper at the helm. "We would need to get three times as many wins as the club has managed all to season to even stand a chance of staying up.
"We don't have the depth of quality and we have to be realistic in that we are down."
Any lingering survival hopes Peterborough had were severely dented by the dramatic departure of top-scorer George Boyd last week.
The talismanic attacker joined automatic-promotion contenders Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the season.
Boyd, 24, impressed on his Forest debut as Billy Davies men grabbed a dramatic late victory against Swansea at the City Ground.
Of Boyd's exit, Gannon said: "It was a difficult decision for the chairman, but when he asked for my opinion I felt we couldn't deny a player the opportunity to play at what could be a higher level.
"I can understand the chairman's emotional attachment, but sometimes players outgrow a club and as long as the price is right then it's right to let them go."
Craig Mackail-Smith, Joe Lewis, Aaron Mclean and Lee Frecklington are being linked with moves away from London Road while uncertainty also surrounds Gannon's future.
The Irishman, whose deal is set to expire at the end of the season, is likely to open contract negotiations with the club when chairman Darragh MacAnthony jets in from Spain before the team's trip to Watford on Saturday.
"It is a massive job and a massive challenge and I need to have a long conversation with the chairman about his ambitions for the club," said Gannon. "I need to know the remit for the remainder of this season and what he wants to achieve in the future.
"Once I know all of that, I will be fully informed to make a decision, but it won't be an easy one. There has been a slow erosion of the squad and a club like ourselves can't afford for that to happen."
Despite Peterborough's precarious league position, much-vaunted Peterborough goalkeeper Lewis is refusing to give up on survival.
Lewis, twice an unused substitute in England's senior side, said: "I`m not giving up and no-one in the dressing room is.
"It`s not looking good and we`ve got a lot of work to do. But two or three quick wins would give us a chance - and stranger things have happened in football. We have to believe we can do it."
Twenty-two-year-old Lewis says he is in no rush to leave Peterborough and added: "I have still got two years on my contract here and, unless I am told otherwise, I am planning to stay and see it through."
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
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Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
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