Former Peterborough United hero and interim manager returns to football in League Two role

The 41-year-old has been appointed as U21 Lead Coach at the JobServe Community Stadium.

The role is the former Posh man’s first job back in football after both he and Simon Davies left for an ill-fated spell as manager and assistant at Crawley Town in November.

Speaking about his new role, he said: “I’m excited about the season ahead and continuing the really good work that’s already going on here within the academy and hopefully adding something to that.

“You just have to look at the amount of minutes that academy graduates played last season, I think it was top in the EFL. From afar, looking at the academy and how well it’s done over the years and the players that it’s produced – I worked with a couple at Peterborough in Sammie Szmodics and Frankie Kent.

“It was a good opportunity for me and I’ve got a real hunger to develop players.”

The pair lasted just three games before (one win and two defeats) before being resigning with Director of Football Chris Galley stating that it was clear that the partnership were “not the right fit to carry the club forward.”

In his short time at the club, Etherington was prevented from playing star forward Tom Nichols due to the club’s desire to sell him to then bottom side Gillingham.

Previously, Etherington- who began his playing career at Posh- served as both Posh U18 and U21 manager as well as assistant manager from November 2021 up until the arrival of Grant McCann in February the following year.

He managed the side for one game on February 23 before the arrival of McCann was confirmed, a 2-1 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Davies is yet to return to coaching.