MacAnthony surprise at decision

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony is surprised that Craig Mackail-Smith chose to join Brighton, but understands the reasons for joining. The Seagulls were late entrants in the race to sign the 27-year-old striker, but they saw off the challenges of West Ham, Leicester, QPR and Norwich."Everyone knows Norwich came in with a very strong offer last season and I very nearly sold him. Then we heard that Neil Warnock was very keen to sign him for QPR," said MacAnthony. "We actually struck a deal with QPR. Craig was keen and it looked set to go ahead, but things changed and Warnock told us that his directors could not make the deal happen."Leicester were next to come along and there had also been enquiries from Wolves, Reading and others. Brighton then made me an offer which was a poor offer and I spoke to their people just to say 'no way'."I presumed Leicester were favourites - Brighton were back in the background. But they matched Leicester's offer with a little bit more up front and it became clear to me that Craig was very keen to join them."I was surprised Craig chose them, but to be fair they are a club heading in the right direction. They have a good manager and they play great football so all the best to them and to Craig."

Source: Team_Talk