Darren Ferguson

Darren Ferguson (born 9 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of League One club Peterborough United, his fourth stint as manager of the club.

In between his stints with Peterborough, he also managed Preston North End and Doncaster Rovers.

As a player, Ferguson was managed at Manchester United by his father, Sir Alex Ferguson.

His father brought him through the youth ranks at Manchester United, giving him his first team debut in 1990.

Ferguson played in United's first 15 games of the new Premier League in 1992–93 during the absence of the injured Bryan Robson, and although he did not start a league game after November, he played enough games to qualify for a title winner's medal at the end of the season (which, at the time, was a minimum of 10 matches).

He won a Premier League title and the FA Charity Shield in 1993 with the club before going on to spend most of his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wrexham in the lower divisions of English football.

However, his first-team chances were very limited in 1993–94 and he was transferred to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £250,000.

His final season at Old Trafford brought just five first team appearances, and with the introduction of squad numbers in the Premier League that campaign he had been issued with the number 18 shirt which would next be worn by Simon Davies.

He spent five years at Wolves, during which they qualified for the Division One play-offs twice and finished in the top 10 on four occasions, but never gained promotion to the Premier League.

He left Wolves in 1999 to sign for Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam, but only made 14 appearances.

Between 1999 and 2007 he played for Wrexham making 310 appearances, scoring 51 goals.

In 2001, 29-year-old Ferguson was linked with the management post at Wrexham, following the departure of Brian Flynn.

At the time, he assisted caretaker manager Joey Jones.

Ferguson captained them to win promotion to Division Two in 2002–03.

He also led the club to its first national trophy (in English football), the Football League Trophy, scoring the second goal himself in a 2–0 win over Southend United in 2004–05.

Ferguson's first managerial appointment was as player-manager of League Two Peterborough United in January 2007.

After manager Denis Smith was sacked in January 2007, Ferguson was again touted as a candidate, having by now played well over 300 games for the club, but coach Brian Carey was appointed instead.

There were suggestions that Ferguson and Carey had clashed, as Ferguson had expected to be appointed.

Carey, who had left Ferguson on the substitutes bench for his first game, denied this.

The pair had argued a year previously, following a defeat to Leyton Orient.

Ferguson later stated he was disappointed not to be considered for the management position, and stated the club would have done better under him than they did under Carey.

Shortly after his father celebrated 20 years as manager of Manchester United, Ferguson followed him into football management.

In January 2007 he left Wrexham to become player-manager of fellow League Two side Peterborough United.

Previous manager Keith Alexander had been sacked after a run of six straight defeats.

He was named League Two manager of the month for March 2008, after Peterborough won six games out of eight in the month.

In his second full season, 2008–09, he led Posh go to second place and automatic promotion to the Championship.

After two successive promotions, and guiding the club to the second tier of English football for the first time in 17 seasons, Ferguson was relieved of his duties on 9 November 2009, with Peterborough United at the foot of The Championship.

He also won the League One Manager of the Month award for March 2009, following six straight wins.

Ferguson left Peterborough in November 2009, by mutual consent, with the club bottom of the table.

Ferguson was appointed Preston North End manager on 6 January 2010.

He was dismissed on 29 December 2010 after a string of poor results.

He led the club to a 10th-placed finish in his first season of management.

In his first full season of management, he took Posh to second place in League Two, gaining promotion.

In January 2010, Ferguson signed as manager of Preston North End.

On 12 January 2011, he was again appointed as the manager of Peterborough, where he took the club to the League One play-off final at Old Trafford, and in this match won promotion to the Football League Championship, the club's third promotion in four years, with a 3–0 victory over Huddersfield Town.

Peterborough spent two seasons in the Championship after winning promotion.

On 4 May 2013, Ferguson's side were relegated to League One after losing to Crystal Palace 3–2 on the final match of the season.

Ferguson was born in Glasgow.

He is the son of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

He has two siblings: a twin brother, Jason, and an elder brother, Mark.