“We’ve probably got the greatest scout in the country in our chairman, Darragh MacAnthony,” says Barry Fry, the Peterborough United director of football. Fry’s trademark booming laugh follows but, while there is a hint of hyperbole, part of him is not joking; it is impossible to ignore the League One club’s track record when it comes to recruitment. MacAnthony and Fry have a penchant for polishing a rough diamond or two, particularly strikers, and, since selling Aaron McLean, now the first-team coach, nine years ago they have sold more than £40m-worth of players, including Britt Assombalonga, Dwight Gayle and Jack Marriott.

Twenty-goal-a-season strikers are priceless commodities but Peterborough have made unearthing them look easy. Between MacAnthony, an Irish multimillionaire property investor, Fry and Darren Ferguson, in his third spell as manager after returning in January, they scour the leagues for talent. MacAnthony, who became the Football League’s youngest chairman in 2007 at the age of 30, is based in Florida but watches endless footage on Wyscout, bringing names to the attention of Fry and Ferguson, who search for “flawed geniuses” to coach and improve, usually for a healthy profit. MacAnthony says Brentford, Barnsley and Preston have followed their recruitment model. “Because of our reputation, there’s 20 scouts in our directors’ box every week,” Fry says. “If you’re good enough, you’ll get spotted, that’s for sure.”

Those who have gone on to bigger and better things are a source of pride but there is a new wave of forward talent causing a stir. Peterborough have scored 40 league goals – more than any other team in the top four tiers, twice as many as some division rivals and four times as many as Bolton. In Ivan Toney, Mohamed Eisa and Marcus Maddison, they have the most prolific strike force in the country; the trio have more goals than Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané. Then there is Joe Ward, Idris Kanu, Serhat Tasdemir and Siriki Dembélé, signed from Woking, Aldershot, AFC Fylde and Grimsby respectively. Ben White, the Brighton defender excelling at Leeds, spent the first half of this year at Peterborough.

Peterborough long to entertain. Assombalonga, who joined Nottingham Forest for £8m in 2014, remains the club’s record sale and, although MacAnthony refers to McLean, Craig Mackail-Smith and George Boyd, the last of whom rejoined in the summer, as “the Holy Trinity” there is a belief that Toney’s aerial prowess means the 23-year-old tops the lot. Toney burst on to the scene at Northampton, becoming the club’s youngest‑ever player and developing under Chris Wilder before Newcastle paid £300,000 for him in 2015. Loans to Barnsley, Shrewsbury, Scunthorpe and Wigan followed before he joined Peterborough for around £600,000 in the summer of 2018. “He needed a home and stability instead of going to this club, that club and another club on loan,” Fry says. “He defends the ball better than anybody and we think he’s worth more than anyone we’ve ever sold.”

Posh are third in League One, determined to keep their latest fabled frontline together and return to the Championship for the first time since 2013. They came close to an instant return but lost in the play-offs and have not troubled the top six since. In Ferguson, who led Peterborough to the Championship in 2009, and his assistant Gavin Strachan, son of the former Southampton manager Gordon, they possess unrivalled pedigree. Sir Alex Ferguson has attended four matches this season and watched Peterborough train at Carrington, Manchester United’s former training base, beforethey faced Blackpool this month.

Marcus Maddison, right, in action against Lincoln. Photograph: Chris Vaughan/CameraSport via Getty Images

“Darren’s different but he has that winning mentality that his father’s got,” Fry says. “Darren and Darragh have got a wonderful, unique relationship where they respect each other immensely – they don’t always agree with one another, but that’s a good sign. I think they have both learned a lot from each other and have been very, very successful. Now I think they have matured and they both have a lot more patience than when I first put them together, let’s put it that way.”

Maddison, signed from Gateshead five years ago, is a creative force but an enigma. There have never been any doubts over his ability, notably his wondrous left foot, but he was released by Newcastle because of questions over his attitude. “This is the year for him; he’ll either help us up or get a move that no one will deny him,” says Fry of a player out of contract next summer. As for Eisa, Peterborough got their man last summer after failing to sign the Sudanese striker when he left Cheltenham for Bristol City. Eisa, whose grounding came in non-league at Dartford and Greenwich Borough, scored regularly in League Two but after struggling for game time in the Championship, he is thriving again.

Sheffield Wednesday’s Garry Monk declines to shake the hand of his former assistant Pep Clotet before the game against Birmingham. Photograph: George Wood/Getty Images

Peterborough is a fertile breeding ground for not only upcycling players but developing their own. Leonardo Da Silva Lopes, now reunited with former Peterborough manager Grant McCann at Hull, caused a stir after breaking into the team at 16 and there is much excitement regarding Ricky-Jade Jones, the striker who signed his first professional contract on turning 17 this month. Jones has progressed through the academy alongside Harrison Burrows, another teenager to make a mark in the first team, under the former Tottenham pair Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington, who started at Peterborough.

Fry tells how Jones, who has scored twice this season, helped himself to nine goals in his first game for Peterborough Under-10s. “He’s not quick, he’s lightning,” Fry says. “The one thing you cannot coach is pace and he is definitely the fastest player I’ve seen. We think he will go the highest that anybody’s ever gone from us. His potential is enormous.”