Duncan Ferguson tells Sky Sports about Everton manager interview
Former Everton caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson believed he “deserved a chance” to take the Goodison Park managerial job permanently before the appointment of Frank Lampard.
Ferguson, who is now the manager of League 1 side Forest Green Rovers, had two spells as interim boss on Merseyside, the second of which came after the sacking of Rafael Benitez last season.
Despite winning his only game in the dugout, Ferguson has told Sky Sports that he failed when interviewing for the permanent managerial job and was left disappointed that he couldn’t finish off what he had started at Goodison Park.
“I think it was considered,” he said. “I went for an interview, but unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in that interview.
“That was obviously disappointing to be a manager of a club that you loved. I think I deserved a chance at that, to take the team to the end of the season.
“Unfortunately, the club went along a different route, they brought in Frank Lampard, a great coach, a man I have a lot of respect for and we got on well. And to be fair to him, he came in, he steadied the ship, and he saved the club from relegation.
“But I was disappointed I never got that chance.”
Short term only
Looking back at last season, it is hard to ignore the fact that Lampard did eventually lead the side away from relegation when all seemed doomed.
And although Ferguson may have been a similar type of firefighter, beyond an interim boss, it would be hard to see him being a success at Everton in the long run.
Having not managed a club permanently until taking his role at Forest Green, it would have been a huge ask to hand the job to Ferguson on a long-term basis, and it probably would have ended in a similar fashion to Lampard in the very next season.
That is not to say the 51-year-old won’t be a successful manager in the future, but being thrown in at the deep end doesn’t usually work out in the Premier League.
Taking Lampard’s role at Chelsea as an example, or even the likes of Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea in 2011, who lacked managerial experience, these kinds of punts often end in failure.