Bristol Rovers boss Matt Taylor wants his club to emulate the successful playing model developed by Peterborough United.
The teams clash in a League One fixture at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick off) when Posh will be hoping to jump-start their season with a first win at home.
And Taylor, who helped in the development of current Posh players Archie Collins, Joel Randall and Jack Sparkes when they were all together at Exeter City, is keen to see how the teams match up. Taylor was Exeter chief when Randall moved to Posh for £1 million in August 2021.
Rovers signed 16 players in the summer transfer window, 12 of whom are 23 or younger with a view to selling them in the future at a profit. Posh have a great reputation for doing just that, while also having success at League One level.
“They invest a lot in the unknown, but they also invest in some outstanding players, “Taylor told Bristol Live. “I sold them a player for over £1 million when they were in the Championship and I was with a League Two team so they do get it right more often than not and they publicise that really well and full credit to them. It’s a model that attracts young players to go there.
“If I was a young player picking a team in this league you’d think of Peterborough because if I perform to any level then I’m in the shop window and the whole footballing world knows to watch Peterborough before any other team at our level.
“They’re where we want to be. They sign young players to develop and they work in a certain way which turns them into assets which can be sold on. It’s something we aspire to be, to a certain extent, but they’ve also backed it up with results, promotions and being really close to the top end of League One which is something else we aspire to get to. They are maybe a little bit ahead of us, but we can learn a lot from them.
“They have a new-look team in certain positions, but but I know three of their players better than anyone and they’re not the young players I had in that development stage. They’re not young players now. Some have played in the Championship, some have played 300 games, some have been promoted from League One.
“They are a typical, strong League One team. It feels like every week we’re saying that. A play-off team of the last few seasons. They’ve still got their identity They have two of the best central midfielders and a front four that would get into any team in the league.
“But there’s been a change in their backline. They’ve obviously lost their captain and sold a very good player to Southampton so some real quality has departed. They’ve added to it and improved it, but in terms of just settling into a rhythm, there’s certain areas on that pitch where we want to get the ball and we want to target.
“They’ve not won at home as yet, but in each and every game I’ve watched them play this season they’ve still been an impressive pressing team with pace and power in abundance.”
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