Duncan Ferguson leaves Forest Green Rovers after just 6 months

Duncan Ferguson has left his role as Forest Green Rovers head coach after less than six months in charge.

The former Everton assistant manager and player was appointed in January with the club bottom of League One.

They were subsequently relegated to the fourth tier in April, with Ferguson overseeing one win in 18 matches.

The 51-year-old had signed a five-year contract with the Gloucestershire side and had talked about his and the club's long-term plans after their relegation.

Bill's on the phone to Dunk desperately trying to get him back as a board member. We are all bored members, Bill, especially with your insistence that you should still be the chairman of the board.

I had hoped for better things for Duncan but you can't polish a turd and although he tried his best it's not come off for him. Wrong club, wrong environment I suspect. I hope he continues to try to ply his trade.

Maybe Steven Gerrard wants him as his assistant in Saudi Arabia

Wtf is that all about if its not chasing the pound signs? Once a prick always a prick, Mr G...

Mark, let's hope slippy G slips up. Yes it's just the cash for him after all his lot at the dark side are already in the devils league.

Interesting to hear Dunc has been sacked by FGR. I live nearby and have been to see them a few times. They were probably misplaced in League One, they are not much more than a village team in scale.

His record last season was horrific but my understanding from friends was that avoiding relegation was not expected but that he was brought in to do a re-build from League Two. Clearly not.

That said, FGR live on a bit of a shoestring and the squad changes hugely each year, as is normal with teams in the lower leagues. I don't think he's really been given much of a chance but at the same time, Dunc can hardly afford to have such setbacks if he wants to belatedly build a career.

He now has a less-than-glorious manager track record. I imagine he'll have to look again at some sort of coaching role but I suspect that will be outside the Premier League (assuming we are not so silly as to have him back).

Mark, my views of the totally unprofessional player that Ferguson was are on record, but not even I would describe him as "a turd"!

Recently there was a greatest-ever Everton XI thread on TW and I don't recall any real interest in naming the so-called "legend" in it.

He's now spectacularly failed as a manager or coach when for the first time having to stand on his own two feet.

How can anyone be surprised?

It was a basket case of a club, but those who hate him ignore that. Good luck to him elsewhere

If you've any ability at all then taking over even a basket-case of a club should result in more than six points out of a possible 54 in my opinion, especially when three of them were accrued in a win against a very top team in the division.

I mean it's not as if Forest Green were getting mullered every game was it? No, they weren't, but the best he could do was three draws. Speaks volumes to me.

Larry 7

While I'm not a big fan of the owner who seemingly eggs on people gluing themselves to roads, FGR are far from a basket case unless you mean they were out of their depth in Div 1 (which as I've said, they were).

They have mightily over achieved in the past 5-7 years relative to the scale and resources available in a way that puts our own abysmal performance during that period into perspective. A club as small as this really has no right being in the EFL at all, but they got there.

In other recent FGR news:

https://www.fgr.co.uk/news/fgr-announce-partnership-with-grateful-dead

I wonder which legendary band/artist EFC could partner with...?

Don, not sure if you had your tongue in your cheek, but I think 'turd' referred to Forest Green Rovers rather than the pigeon-fancier.

I would agree with the idea that Duncan should have achieved better results regardless of the squad he inherited.

I have a feeling that an assistant coaching role would suit him better.

He's left it too late. If he was going to make it as a manager, he should have done it years ago.

He was on such big money at Everton for a trainer or assistant that taking the risky route was not on the agenda. It's not a criticism, I'd have done the same on the sort of money Everton were paying.

He got a 5-year contract, so it's possible that Duncan will be making himself a small fortune out of this dismissal, with around 4½ years remaining on the contract.

Forest Green Rovers were bottom from the previous 28 games, with less than 4 months left of the season when he took over. He's not a miracle worker.

A few comments here are happy he failed, sadly. His playing career with us was hot and cold, he wore his heart on his sleeve, and you couldn't fault his desire and passion in the dugout, and his results when in temporary charge of EFC.

Forest green have appointed the first woman manager.

Not a good start to a full managerial career but then again it’s where he went that wasn’t good FGR languishing at the bottom - he needed a miracle - saw a few of the highlights and FGR were unlucky not to win more games Dunc can learn from this and pick up somewhere else. Good luck in your next club.

I watched them once, very early in Duncan’s tenure, and they seemed well drilled and defensively disciplined, a lot like Everton under Ancellotti.

Tony Everan hit the nail on the head. He left it too late. He’s in his fifties now. Guys like Hoddle, Curbishley and Pardew had better track records and got frozen out at his age.

Of course he'll be well paid for failing - to cost of the near-bankrupt club and its fans, like he's ever given a shit on that score.

WE all know about that regarding failed managers, but Ferguson personifies the culture we still need to be rid of from ownership, boardroom, Finch Farm, scouts, players and, dare I say it, us fans?

He's a shyster, in it for himself alone, sucking money from anyone stupid enough to give it to him. His life shows it.

Yes, he scored a mere handful of wow-wee goals for us thirty years ago or so before devising endless suspensions and so-called injuries to enable him to cream us to fuck for doing fuck-all.

His first manager when he was a teen-ager, Jim McLean, went public lambasting his feckless character at that time and beyond and guess what? Mega-millionaire Ferguson, as he was at the time, never even tried to publicly repudiate him.

Many of us though used to, and still do, eulogise the bloke.

Unbelievable!

And yet many of those self-same people now at last hammer Kenwright (Ferguson's ever giving sugar-daddy) and latterly Moshiri for repeated catastrophic decisions that have all but destroyed OUR club.

As said, unbelievable!

If you aren't embedded right up your own arse you might just think a totally new model of ownership and management is long since required where the likes of Duncan Ferguson are totally eschewed from any regard at all, never mind employment.

I was never convinced by Duncan.

I acknowledge that he was an icon for a generation who had nothing else as we fell from grace.

He did give us some great moments. Derby goals at Goodison and Anfield, that one against United that put us on the path for Champions League ambition. I was in Australia that night (well I think it was morning).

But I was never convinced he lived up to his potential. Okay, I can't comment on injuries, they happen to most players and if I draw parallels to Mina, maybe it was his natural physique?

Then there was his discipline. Or lack of it. Some would call it passion. I call it rising to the bait. There is often only one winner in that and often Duncan saw red as the red mist descended. Look at how Tarkowski reacts. Often with a laugh in the face of the opponent. That Pickford incident was quality.

I genuinely am not sure what he done as a coach. He didn't seem to do much from the bench. I don't have insight into what influence he had on the training grounds of Finch Farm.

I am not surprised this didn't work out. I don't have axe to grind with Duncan, I just don't think he is cut out for football management. I always say, he seemed to be a reluctant footballer.

The word legend is overused in football. I think Joe Royle got it right when he said that Duncan was in danger of becoming a legend before he became a footballer. He was right.

He did become that "legend" without really achieving as much as what he may have done. Not for me. A fighter (literally), but far from the best I've seen play for Everton.

So Dale Vince has replaced big Dunc with a women Hannah Dingley this should be interesting first women to manage a men's professional team, one that got rid of Dunc because they where looking for stability and progress will keep an eye on this one.

Really sorry to hear about Dunc getting the push, not given a fair crack of the whip. Chin up big man, I hope you never read TW, so many with the knives behind their back who have NOTHING positive to say, ever!

Steve Shave, spot on, the usual suspects putting the boot in, They we’re rooted at the bottom when he joined, no chance to bring any players in, wtf do people expect in 18 games, I couldn’t care less what other TW readers think of him, to me he is a true blue and one of my favourite ever Everton players

Danny O'Neil - I'm around 10 years younger than you so missed all the 80s glory days but I was 13 when Big Dunc signed for us.

No Internet, no YouTube and no idea about this big lad we had signed besides that he'd come with a Big reputation and was meant to be Hard as F!!

I really fell for Everton in 1994 and was there for the Wimbledon game, I spent the entire summer waiting for the season to start like a kid waiting for Christmas Day. It was a disaster as we didn't win a game until November and Duncan didn't look much under Mike Walker. At all.

But then Joe Royle took over and suddenly we were beating Liverpool and Man United and there was so much optimism that we could not only survive but go on to win the Cup. We looked dead and buried before Joe took over.

And Duncan was a MASSIVE part of that. He gave us hope that we could beat anyone when he played, some of his performances against the big teams were incredible. Especially back in the days when 1 up front was rare. I genuinely loved him, bit like you do with Kevin Sheedy, and I was convinced that once his injuries and off field issues cleared up, he would go on to become one of the very best strikers in the world.

As teenager you have footballing heroes and I'll never forget those days he gave me. The criticism from the likes of Don are founded in fact, but I'm guessing Don is a bit older than me and saw the truly great players that preceded Duncan.

In my youth, only Duncan and the sublime Andrei Kanchelskis were genuinely top drawer with maybe Anders Limpar too. Just a shame it was so fleeting for the most part.

I'll always wish Duncan well in whatever he does. BTW, Royle said the game was too easy to him as he was a good athlete with good control and he was massive on top of that! That's probably why he saved his best performances for against the best teams...he needed to be pushed!

I heard a very interesting rumour the other day concerning George Downing, the man who is getting talked about as becoming Everton’s new chairman, in many press reports. It’s only a rumour, but he was alleged to have approached Bill Kenwright, many years ago, with an offer of a place on the board, if he personally brought back Duncan Ferguson to Everton, with his own money.

I still vaguely remember the front page of the Liverpool Echo, with headlines that said, BILL KENWRIGHT WILL BUY EVERTON A STRIKER WITH HIS OWN MONEY, such was his love for the club. It never materialized, but it was great PR, for a man who had one objective, and one objective only, so no doubt he would have (if there is any truth in this rumour) been very scared by this offer, because he would have realised Mr Downing, was a very genuine Evertonian, rather than the great pretender, that Chairman Bill has always been.

Sorry for my every other day, boring repetition, but I honestly don’t think I’m on some kind of mission, rather than just wanting people at Everton, who do things for the good of the club, rather than for the good of themselves.

This rumour might not even be true, but neither was Bill Kenwright with his front page headlines, but at least he’s only staying on for the good of our club. Antagonizing right until the very bitter end. That makes two of us, I know Michael!

Regardless of what you think of him as a player or a man, he should never have been a serious contender to manage Everton. This whole ‘gets the club’ stuff is pretty archaic and sentimental and part of the reason we have fallen behind. Yes a match in terms of footballing identity is useful (and I think Dyche brings the effort and graft that Evertonians want) but we should never have considered appointing someone who had not proved himself as a manager at some reasonable first team level.

I hoped it would go better for him at Forest Green and hope he will get another opportunity.

I totally understand Lee.

Despite my doubts, Duncan didn't always get enough credit for how good and comfortable he was on the ball.

To my point, that I've similarly made about Mina, I wish he could have played more.

Kanchelskis was possibly our last class signing until we got James Rodriguez. We didn't retain either for very long. I always think Limpar is overlooked. A very intelligent player with a good footballing brain. With him and Kanchelskis, for a short period, we were dangerous from the flanks.

A shame that once again, the Everton board let down the manager and Joe Royle walked.

I'm not chastising Duncan by the way, I just don't think he ever lived up to expectation or realised his potential, even in a decent Newcastle team.

Then again, Everton didn't and haven't.

After Royle, we had Kendall Mark 3, which I have to admit, despite the trauma of the past couple of recent seasons and uncertainty caused by the revolving door of managers, that period and what followed was a low point as an Evertonian for me.

For the obvious reason of how poor we were, but also seeing a true club legend a shadow of his former self. It wasn't pleasant to watch.

Much like Lee, I'm of an age where the big man was the only part of supporting Everton which made you believe.

I feel bad for the teenagers of today – who the hell is their hero?

There is no doubt that Duncan was a talented player, however, my abiding memories of him are of someone who punched opponents, got sent off, and refused to take a penalty.

There was also one wonderful day when he ran the touch line as manager. But that's all in the past, I think overall he was treated handsomely by the club but sadly never fulfilled his true potential.

Well said, Duncan pal, to those who have other memories that's great… but to many of our generation, he was an iconic figure, someone who could inspire and lift us.

I can understand those of a certain age eulogising about Ferguson but, as Joe Royle said, he was a legend before he was a player.

He wouldn’t be in my Top 20 of centre-forwards to have played for us, used his fists more than his feet.

Duncan Ferguson had the talent to go right to the top and wasted them.

Some of that perhaps came from falling out of love with the game for a while due to the ridiculous behaviour of the SFA and Police Scotland but he was given chances by Everton and Newcastle after that and didn't take either as well as he could have.

Absolutely right that he didn't fulfill his potential, he was awesome against a top team then a week later against, say a mid table Coventry, he would be pretty much a bog standard target man!

Talent will get you so far,but to be the best you need to be obsessed with being the best consistently. Like Ronaldo.

We needed a Hero back then, and Duncan filled that spot. We were so poor at times during the 90s that I clearly remember being shocked that we scored a goal and finally winning a game was something to behold!!

Steve Shave (21):

“Really sorry to hear about Dunc getting the push, not given a fair crack of the whip. Chin up big man, I hope you never read TW, so many with the knives behind their back who have nothing positive to say, ever!”

Mick O'Malley (22): “Steve Shave, spot on, the usual suspects putting the boot in”.

Erm, one win in 18 games (a winning percentage of 5.55%), but Ferguson was “not given a fair crack of the whip!!!!!”

So, Steve, could you answer these questions please: Is this a record that should have got Ferguson some more time and consideration? Would you accept this record as an indication that Everton should not get rid of any manager who put us in that position?

Or could it just be the case that you are absolutely blinkered when it comes to Duncan Ferguson?

In my day every player that put an Everton shirt on and wore it with pride was a hero to the crowd.

It seems that Social media in particular has enabled the naysayers to mock and discredit those that have worn the shirt and that in itself is very disappointing.

Duncan loved the club every bit as much as any one of us and he deserves some respect. Some of you knockers would be delighted to have achieved half of what he did so please bear that in mind.

Jay, to be fair that's nonsense.

For instance, was Neil Pointon's nickname of Pointless born on social media?

Alex Nyarko left Everton in 2004, can't blame social media for the guy that ran on the pitch at Highbury and offered to swap shirts with him.

What about Claus Thomsen? Not sure he was ever that much of a hero to anybody.

Other crap players are available.

Jay (Harris), what exactly did Duncan Ferguson "achieve" so that I can bear it in mind when I remember that I have not "achieved" half of it?

Now, I wouldn't mind having half the money he has earned.

Paul, I would consider winning the FA cup and playing in the Premiership are both beyond you.

I never said that something was not beyond me Jay. In fact, I would suggest that half is rather generous and that maybe us mere underlings are probably not worth 1% of what Duncan has achieved.

I don't, by the way, consider playing in the Premier League to be an achievement in itself. Ferguson was at best average with a poor scoring record, unreliable, undependable, injury-prone, red mist sort of fella.

I am actually of the opinion that there are people on here who have achieved far more in life than Duncan Ferguson and given far more to others.

Sam (25) - "This whole ‘gets the club’ stuff is pretty archaic and sentimental and part of the reason we have fallen behind."

This is good.

It's also the "wave" Kenwright had ridden all these years.

Duncan Ferguson could've and should've been the Erling Haaland of his era and yet never was close to it. A great Evertonian but not a great Everton player.

John Otway,

Very well put.

Some simply cannot grasp why Dunc is loved by the majority. Yes, he had flaws but, when he played, he was our champion, kneeling before none regardless of reputation. And if you come from Liverpool, that resonates; if you don't, you probably want to climb the ivory tower and get all sniffy about his perceived failings.

Dunc was a great player who just didn't play enough.

Every opponent took a sharp intake of breath when his name was on the team sheet. As hard as nails with genuine ability and a real love for the club yet here we have criticism pouring from smart-arse Evertonians – just pack it in!

I think like a lot of people, Duncan Ferguson just learned too late. He probably took his talent and his job for granted and could have definitely achieved a lot more than he did as a player simply because, when he was in the mood, he was sometimes near to being unplayable.

I personally think that to a large degree Duncan Ferguson wasted his talent. If his professionalism had matched his natural talent, he would have been a world-beater.

This was something we only witnessed every so often (usually against the best teams) and this is why opinions differ on a player who “could have easily been” one of the best players of his generation, imo.

Andrew #35,

I think Pointon's nickname was actually Dissa.

A young lad I worked with in the nineties got a No 9 Big Duncan tattoo on his upper arm. He worshiped him at the time, as has been said above Evertonians were looking for something to identify with and Duncan filled the space of the working class hero.

Older lads thought a bit differently because we had seen one of the best Everton teams ever. Truly the best team in Europe in the mid-eighties. To many of that age, Ferguson was a fighter and a very useful centre-forward when fit, but no-one who saw Reid, Sheedy, Trevor, Gary Steven, Ratcliffe, Bracewell, Big Nev, Mountfield, Sharp, Lineker, Andy Gray etc, could call Ferguson a hero or legend, me included.

Oh well, at least he can have a steak bake from Greggs without having to look over his shoulder.

Barry # 42,

Completely agree with your comment.

It's a pity Joe Royle left, he got the best out of him... He didn't play enough, but when he did play, he was a handful, and he had a great first touch.

I will pass on defending him as a manager other than to say the run of games here was legendary. As a player, right on Steve, Mick and Lee. I'm really saying this from the backseat since that was my initiation with Everton and I didn't fully understand football then.

That was a time when the difference in money really showed on the pitch and Dunc gave us the chance to put some fear into arrogant bastards. I could only get a view of what were probably his better games here in the States on satellite so my sample is likely upward biased.

Beyond the results, he gave it a full go. The criticism of the player for lack of development may be deserved but I can't help but think some of it was down to the desperate times and his efforts.

I think the best word to describe him was "Talisman".

Maybe the team had more confidence (or was it the opposition less?) when he played.

His record in his both spells was around goal every 260 minutes – 3 matches. About the same as Sharp, Campbell, Richarlison. Never a Lineker, Lukaku or Yakubu but the average Everton striker of the last 40 years.

I haven't interpreted anyone as being a smart arse Evertonian.

I've read different views, mostly constructive and based on different generations.

There is no issue giving an opinion on a player's flaws. Enough of us do it on other players quite regularly.

I, and others don't think he lived up to his potential. It doesn't mean we are belittling anyone who saw him as an idol. My youngest brother and son grew up with him. I get and understand that. I liked him myself, I just wish he would have taken more advantage of his talent.

There are very few smart arses on here Barry, just a range of views Just like there are at the match every week.

"Yes, he had flaws...
yet here we have criticism pouring from smart-arse Evertonians."

Aren't Sky looking for a new pundit?

Maybe I'm a smart arse or maybe I'm old enough to remember better days but Ferguson, as a player, was passionate and committed but delivered way less than his sublime talent deserved. And not just for us.

As a manager, I don't think the spell at Forest Green Rovers is definitive about his capabilities one way or another. I sometimes watch them as they're my nearest club and my understanding is that he was brought in not so much to escape relegation – they didn't really have a good enough squad for that – but to lead the re-build from League Two, hence the unusual 5-year contract.

But even with a poor squad, his record under-delivered. One win, which I happened to see live, against Sheffield Wednesday, who were awful and toothless. I watched with a Owls mate and he said it was the worst he's ever seen them play.

This is not the sort of record that is going to burnish your credentials as a manager, and Dunc cannot really afford any missteps at this point. I suspect he'll have to consider coaching again.

He may also have been unlucky with the owner, who frankly is a bit of a prat, changing his mind and thinking how wonderful and wacky it would be to appoint the first-ever female manager.

The club has form when it comes to this type of PR opportunity. You may laugh but on one visit I attended what was apparently 'the world's first vegan football match'.

Danny @50,

"There are very few smart arses on here, Barry."

A few too many when gauging the contribution of a player who was the only shaft of light for a period.

I just don't get Evertonians sometimes.

Always had a soft spot for Duncan. I was always was hoping he was going to turn the corner as a player, a trainer, and a manager. But there was always something missing.

I think a generation had a soft spot for him, Jerome, and I totally understand why. My youngest brother is of that generation and there are 17 years between us.

Barry, not smartarses, just people with a different view of the big man, more often than not constructive criticism rather than slating him.