Ferguson has returned to Peterborough United just 14 months after leaving the club

By Peter Swan BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

'Never go back' is a well known phrase in football, but clearly not one which troubles Darren Ferguson.

For a superstitious man, Ferguson has thrown caution to the wind in jumping straight back into management with the club at which he made his name.

"It was an easy decision for me," the 38-year-old said.

"The chairman rang me, we spoke for a while and this is a really good football club."

I don't want Darren here for six months or 12 months. I want to work with Darren for a long time. Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony

In the 14 months since Ferguson left Peterborough United, three different managers have tried and, to varying extents, failed to build upon his achievements.

Backed by the wealth of owner Darragh MacAnthony, he led the club to successive promotions from League Two into the Championship.

However life in the second tier proved far from easy and with Posh rooted to the foot of the table, Ferguson was controversially shown the exit following a 3-1 defeat at Newcastle.

In the short time since their parting of ways neither Ferguson nor Posh have matched the heights of their time together.

Ferguson moved on to Preston, but left Deepdale in late December 2010 with the club struggling in the Championship relegation zone.

"Preston just wasn't meant to be and sometimes you get situations like that. The club was going through a transitional period and it wasn't meant to be," Ferguson said.

Mark Cooper was handed the reins at London Road, but was sacked after just 13 games in charge. He was followed by former Stockport boss Jim Gannon, who declined to take the job on a permanent basis, leaving a path clear for the experienced Gary Johnson.

Relegation back to League One had already been confirmed by the time Johnson arrived. He had made a steady start to life at London Road and looked set to lead Posh to a top-six finish at the very least, but his relationship with MacAnthony was fractious virtually from day one.

"Gary and myself decided it just wasn't working out between me and him and we decided moving on was the right thing to do, " MacAnthony said.

So just as success breeds strange bedfellows, it seems hard times can also result in unlikely alliances.

Ferguson would have been fortunate to pick up another job in the Championship any time soon, whilst MacAnthony has spent over a year trying and failing to find a suitable replacement.

The greatest stumbling block to any potential reconciliation was always going to be the acrimonious manner of Ferguson's departure.

Much was said, especially by MacAnthony and Posh director of football Barry Fry, but it would appear no grudges are being held.

"We're young and ambitious and maybe towards the end of my last spell we both became a little complacent about the whole situation," Ferguson said.

Ferguson and MacAnthony celebrate promotion to the Championship in 2009

With three different managers having passed through the doors at London Road since Ferguson left, the pair are under pressure to hit the ground running.

Ferguson believes he can bring a vital commodity to the club: "We need to get stability back into this football club because there have been too many changes."

It is a view shared by MacAnthony: "I don't want Darren here for six months or 12 months. I want to work with Darren for a long time because I'm fed up with what's gone on over the past year and a half."

In handing Ferguson a four-and-a-half year deal, barely a year after ripping up his previous four-year contract, MacAnthony is clearly making a statement of intent. However both sides have taken a gamble.

With their relationship seemingly having run its course last time around, surely it will not be long before they remember why it was they parted company in the first place?

Without doubt MacAnthony is a demanding man to work for. As Gary Johnson wryly noted: "Darragh doesn't tell you which players to pick, but he does tell you which players he would pick."

Jim Gannon's response to his chairman's hands-on approach was to communicate almost exclusively via e-mail.

The relationship between Ferguson and MacAnthony worked last time around because they were prepared to engage in rows which were all but forgotten the following day.

MacAnthony likes to have his say and Ferguson was quite happy to let him have it, but would give as good as he got in return.

606: DEBATE I feel as if Christmas and my birthday have both arrived ahead of schedule. Getting Fergie back will hopefully mean so much for the club. mkposhfan

"We've never had a massive problem," MacAnthony said.

"Yeah, we've had rucks, but you have rucks with the people closest to you and we've never held any grudges."

The very fact the pair are prepared to work together once again is testament to their ability to forgive and forget.

Certainly strong results will help galvanise the club and if there is one place Ferguson knows how to win football matches it is at London Road. He is already among the most successful Posh managers of all time.

His first task will be to plug a defence which has leaked more goals than any other in the Football League this season, though ominously Posh's only rival in this respect are Preston.

An inability to defend in the Championship in part cost Ferguson his job at Posh first time around, but he is confident the problem can be fixed.

"We've lost far too many goals for whatever reason, but I think we might change formation because for whatever reason the current shape doesn't seem to suit us," he said.

Whatever happens, the stakes are high for Ferguson's second coming. Posh simply cannot afford to continue changing managers on such a regular basis.

Gary Johnson can consider himself unlucky to be out of a job having left the club within touching distance of the automatic promotion places.

If the return of Ferguson fails to work out then there must come a point where MacAnthony has to question whether in fact the problem lies with him.

But after 14 months of searching, he certainly believes he has found the answer.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version