Darren Ferguson – son of Manchester United’s legendary manager Sir Alex – has just guided his Peterborough United side to a third promotion from League One. But there’s reason to believe that this time, it’ll last.
In 2009, 2011 and now 2021, Peterborough United have won promotion from English football’s third-tier with Ferguson in the dugout. Close to 27 years have passed since the now 49-year-old was pulling on the red and white of his father’s Manchester United, as he caps 14 near-full years as a manager.
Starting out as a player/manager with Peterborough United way back in 2007, Ferguson would go on to achieve unprecedented success in his early managerial career. He won back-to-back promotions with Posh, taking them from League Two at the time he took over up into the Championship by 2009. What’s unfolded is a long-lasting love story between Ferguson and Peterborough United – both have tried their luck elsewhere, but on two occasions now they’ve reunited.
Achieving a 2nd-place finish in the season just concluded to clinch promotion, Ferguson has now done so in each of his three separate stints in charge. The first time he managed Posh in the Championship he left after just 16 games – a 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United brought about Posh’s biggest-ever league crowd of 43,000, but would prove Ferguson’s last in charge for the time being, with his side bottom of the Championship.
National media suggested his initial dismissal was harsh and come the time of his second stint, and third season with Peterborough in the Championship, Ferguson was given the time to operate and by all accounts did well. They scathed off relegation with an 18th-place finish in the 2011/12 campaign before relegation in the next – they notched 54 points in the league that season which is the highest amount ever tallied by a side relegated from the Championship. But the next season back in League One was a slog and again by the glossy term of ‘mutual consent’, Ferguson and Peterborough parted ways.
Having shacked up with Preston North End following the first parting, Ferguson who remained a respected Football League manager for his work with Posh landed the Doncaster Rovers job, whilst Peterborough United went a number of different ways. They first David Robertson at the helm, then current Hull City boss Grant McCann, Graham Westley was then given a go before it was given back to McCann, with Steve Evans paving the way for third Ferguson homecoming.
- Since Ferguson took charge of Peterborough United in January 2007, he’s been in charge of three different teams and undergone five separate appointments, but has only ever been out of work fora combined total of 10 months. His managerial record to date stands at 677 games, with 288 wins and a win percentage of 42.54%.
Four permanent managers in the four years between Ferguson’s second and third tenure – that kind of managerial merry-go-round often lands teams in trouble but Posh maintained League One football throughout. In fact, they’ve finished 13th or higher in the League One table every season since their Championship relegation in 2013, finishing in the top-six once in the 2013/14 campaign and 7th in the previous two.
The last campaign saw Posh demoted to 7th via a PPG conclusion to the season, having sat in 4th-place of the table following a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth back in March of last year – Pompey sat in 6th following defeat, but still claimed a play-off spot. To come back from the sheer hardship of that and win promotion so convincingly behind Hull City this season, and all having lost their star striker Ivan Toney last going into the campaign is arguably the story of the Football League this season.
There’s plenty of negative stories which trump Posh’s in terms of interest. But Peterborough and Ferguson have for a third time achieved what very few backed them to do and in special circumstances, and this promotion in particular seems as though it could finally be Ferguson’s last from League One.
He takes his side into an ever-growing and ever-demanding Championship. Big-hitters from the Premier League will be rubbing shoulders alongside Peterborough and the managers who’ve done their research will know that Posh can’t take lightly whatsoever. For the past two seasons they’ve proved to be one of the most prolific teams, not only in the UK but in Europe in their respected division – they finished the League One campaign as the league’s highest scorers with 83, ending the last one as the league’s most potent with a stunning 68 goals from their 35 games.
Ferguson since his third appointment has really galvanised the side. Jonson Clarke-Harris has been the perfect replacement for Toney and still other names prevail in Siriki Dembele and Sammie Szmodics, with an 18-year-old Ricky-Jade Jones turning heads and ending the season with his first league goal for the club.
The obvious sentiment going into the summer is that Peterborough can’t sell their best assets. They’ve understandably sold some of their big names along the line but they can quickly become a breeding ground for players like Toney, who make their name at Peterborough but fulfil their potential elsewhere. Darragh MacAnthony and Barry Fry have brought undoubted stability to the club too, and foundations that if built upon in the summer could quite easily maintain Championship football. Despite managerial changes in spells they’ve maintained a compeitive level in League One and have finally been rewarded with promotion into the Championship, and on the back of some increasingly impressive seasons under Ferguson.
Posh fans have every right to believe that they’re about to stay in the Championship. They’ve shown in the season just gone that they’re capable of breaking out of a league with big some-hitters in the likes of Hull City, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Ipswich Town and do so on a relatively tight budget. They’re better equip to tackle the Championship this time round, and they might yet surprise a few. Ferguson meanwhile, having gone 14 years without ever really getting a mention outside of Peterborough, could start to turn heads in the Football League.
