Duncan Ferguson & Who was in the running

[ictchris]

Positives and negatives about appointing Ferguson.

POSITIVES

He has coaching and assistant manager experience at the highest level.  He was a first team coach at Everton from 2014 to 2022, caretaker manager a couple of times.  He worked with Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelloti, Rafa Benetiz.  That has to be worth something. He seems to have been highly regarded by those he worked with.  He has a reputation as a motivator, a positive guy who is passionate as a coach, not someone who is more analytical and measured. 

NEGATIVES

He hasn't been involved in Scottish football for decades, he's never coached here at all.  You can be certain he'll have zero knowledge of players at this level.  He was interviewed by Tony Bellew for a podcast earlier this year and he said that he hasn't really paid much attention to Scottish football for years - which is understandable as he was coaching a Premier league club so knowledge of lower leagues in Scotland isn't required.

He had a poor record as manager of Forest Green Rovers, who were in a similar position to us when he took over - bottom of their league.  There are obviously reasons behind every failure (and success) and from what I've read about it there were underlying things wrong at the club that meant he wasn't in a position to succeed.

 

[ictchris]

People talking about him being appointed for 'staunchness' are being silly.  The guy played about ten games for Rangers thirty years ago.  I don't think he's particularly renowned as a Rangers guy at all, Everton are the club he's identified with. He was really considered a big disappointment by Rangers fans

 

[ictchris]

 

 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Cant wait for him to head butt Gardiner.

[CaleyCanary]

Been ruminating on this since the first announcement. Not only far from my first choice, not even on my radar. Big Dunc never even came to mind as I never would have thought he’d consider a position like ours. My feelings pretty much match the pros and cons on previous posts…

Biggest pro has to be his high level coaching experience, something we desperately need, and the high regard in which he was held is surely a positive. Secondly, it has to be the prospect of his connections and the chances of him being able to attract some players who would probably never have given us a second glance. I’m also hoping he’s a strong enough character to stand up to the suits in the boardroom who have been doing their best to destroy our club.

My biggest concern was/is his lack of knowledge of Scottish football and our lower leagues in particular. There are some pretty savvy, well experienced managers out there who have run rings around Dodds and are quite capable of doing so against Dunc if he underestimates the opposition. The appointment of Gary Bollan as his number two is very welcome news. Gary brings the experience and knowledge to the table that Big Dunc lacks.

If they can work well together then this could be a master stroke, I sincerely hope it is and I wish them well for the sake of our club.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Bet It wasn't a 2 for 1 purchase 

[jed5697]

 

[tm4tj]

As we all now know, former Dundee United, Rangers, St Johnston and Livingston player Gary Bollan now confirmed as Duncan's assistant. He has managerial experience at these clubs:

Gary Bollan Stats >>>

2009–2012	Livingston
2013–2015	Airdrieonians
2015–2017	Forfar Athletic
2017–2021	Cowdenbeath

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Livingston		14 August 2009	5 February 2012	108	62	22	24	57.41

Livingston: Scottish Third Division: 2009–10 Scottish Second Division: 2010–11

Forfar Athletic: Scottish League One play-offs: 2016–17

Cowdenbeath: Scottish League Two play-offs: 2017–18

[Scotty]

I am kind of in the same boat as many. This will either be a masterstroke or an unmitigated disaster. Hoping for the first, not the latter.  

On the plus side, he has been around some pretty big names in his roles as coach while learning the ropes over a lengthy period of time. He may have the personality and name recognition to attract players we might not have had a sniff at before and watching some of the videos I have seen over the last few days, he appears to be a different person (more likeable) than the person he was as a player. Seems highly regarded by supporters in the blue part of Liverpool. In the talksport and press conference videos he also seems to come across honest and truthfully when mentioning he has no clue about our players, or the lower leagues. Honesty and straight talking is something lacking in our recent history. 

On the minus side, as mentioned, he has not coached in Scotland, and his Forest Green spell didn't make good reading. Having said that, Didn't a certain Mr. Butcher have a woeful recent record before he came to us.   My biggest fears are how we are affording this. He won't come cheap. He may have certain budgetary expectations that we can't meet (although I assume he knows its low as the talksport interview mentioned not blowing his budget on the hotel they put him up in). It also papers over other cracks that need looked at whether he is successful or not. 

 

 

[Satan]

I'm glad the hype has begun to subside, I'm split nearly down the middle on this one.

Not sure if the loan transfer will be an option as he won't have any idea about his squad shortcomings  so I guess we go with what 'Doddsie' has left him with.

Results being key the next month will be crucial to keep attached to those teams closest to us - performance may have been showing promise but DF's remit is points, 3's preferably.

Make it to January anywhere from 7th upwards and then we see how his contacts are...strengthen again for the push to mid table mediocrity. 

On a side note, I'd love to hear the scheme that's been cobbled together to pay for this long shot.

[STFU]

5 hours ago, ictchris said:

People talking about him being appointed for 'staunchness' are being silly.  The guy played about ten games for Rangers thirty years ago.  I don't think he's particularly renowned as a Rangers guy at all, Everton are the club he's identified with. He was really considered a big disappointment by Rangers fans

 

I don't think he was appointed for for his staunchness, I think he was appointed because of our CEO's staunchness!

[bdu98196]

1 hour ago, Satan said:

squad shortcomings 

I think this may be his biggest issue. Dodds certainly like to make sure a lot of his signings were not going to physically intimidate him

[CaleyCanary]

10 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

I think this may be his biggest issue. Dodds certainly like to make sure a lot of his signings were not going to physically intimidate him

Now they’ll have someone they can look up to…

[Yngwie]

Some people might consider Big Dunc a bit intimidating but he’s actually very touchy feely, likes to put an arm round etc.

[+Fraz]

 

[+Gringo]

On 9/27/2023 at 6:18 PM, Scotty said:

Didn't a certain Mr. Butcher have a woeful recent record before he came to us.   

He did and an even worse record when he left. 

[buckett]

I see a few Rangers fans eyeing up Ferguson as their next manager, and possibly he's got a similar long-term ambition.

Good for us though if he has that incentive to shine!

[dougal]

Ok there is an undoubted overwhelming stench of currant bunnary within the club and we are classed as the Sevco of the north by all other supporters. 
Having said that Big Duncs appointment has put shock waves throughout the football world a lot further than just Scotland. 
Master stroke or disaster I think it will become clearer sooner rather than later but I wish the big man all the luck in the world. 
One thing this appointment has done has highlighted how many ICT fans support either side of the old firm something I suspected all along. 
 

Dougal
 

[IBM]

46 minutes ago, dougal said:

One thing this appointment has done has highlighted how many ICT fans support either side of the old firm something I suspected all along. 
 

Dougal
 

Excluding me

[tm4tj]

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

1 hour ago, dougal said:

One thing this appointment has done has highlighted how many ICT fans support either side of the old firm something I suspected all along. 
 

Dougal
 

Name and shame them Douglas

[+snorbens_caleyman]

2 hours ago, dougal said:

Having said that Big Duncs appointment has put shock waves throughout the football world a lot further than just Scotland.

Whole episode of Football Focus devoted to it.  Major European Leagues deciding whether to postpone this weekend's fixtures. 

The game will never be the same again.

[robbylad]

3 hours ago, IBM said:

Excluding me

Nor me. Can't stand either of them. Never could.

[Robert]

3 hours ago, robbylad said:

Nor me. Can't stand either of them. Never could.

Add me to that list!

[lizi]

Add me to the list too