ENGLISH FA CUP PRESTON V CHELSEA: ANDY HUNTERtalks to Preston manager Darren Ferguson, who is eager for his home debut at Deepsdale this afternoon against Chelsea.
METICULOUS PREPARATION has been second nature to Darren Ferguson since his school days, when the Preston North End manager used notebooks to dissect the tactics that brought his father three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a European Cup Winners’ Cup with Aberdeen.
“He never listened to a thing I said though,” said Ferguson, who has come to accept no interview will be complete without at least one mention of his father, Alex. But sometimes it pays to skirt over the details, and a Deepdale debut against a Chelsea side fresh from a 7-2 annihilation of Sunderland almost demands it.
Ferguson was smarting from a debut defeat at Bristol City when he switched on the car radio and heard the result from Stamford Bridge. Initially, he claims, the scoreline had no impact on a mood already darkened by watching his new charges concede two goals in the opening 12 minutes at Ashton Gate. But it has influenced preparations for a fourth-round tie that, for all the trepidation attached, offers Preston’s new manager an opportunity for a glorious first impression on home soil.
“The result did not have an effect on me at all until Monday morning when we were looking at certain things in the Chelsea performance,” admits the 37-year-old. “I watched the game but I think it is a bit worthless showing it to the players. You can over-analyse games too much and you can leave the room trembling.”
The protection policy only goes so far, however, and Ferguson is quick to reinforce the point that an emphatic victory for the joint Premier League leaders will not alter his strategy on the pitch this lunchtime. “It is Chelsea,” he says. “They are one of the best teams in Europe. Whether it was a 7-2 or a draw last weekend, they are still one of the best in Europe. We have done our homework and we have a few DVDs on them. It’s not a difficult one for me because my players should know about Chelsea because they see them every week on television.”
Ferguson is impatient for his first game at Deepdale, the weather having played havoc with the fixture schedule and delayed his bow, and finds encouragement in the upset his father suffered against Leeds United. “United were poor that day,” says the former Wolves and Wrexham midfielder. “And Chelsea can’t play well every game.”
It is an early managerial contest with Carlo Ancelotti, though, that has enriched this occasion for the Scot. The Italian has left his mark on the Ferguson family before, notably the 2007 European Cup semi-final victory over Manchester United with Milan, and will enter a sold-out Deepdale an odds-on favourite to inflict further punishment. Yet Ferguson argues: “It is exciting. I think Ancelotti has made Chelsea more consistent and improved the mentality. He is a winning guy. I went through the 7-2 again yesterday and it is not easy. But this is a great game for my players and this is why you want to be in football. Our aspirations are to get in the Premier League and this game will give us a taste of it.”
Next to Ferguson is a tactics board upon which some jester has placed Chelsea in a 4-3-3 formation and Preston in a 10-0-1, with all 10 defenders camped inside their own six-yard box.
“We’ll struggle to get a goal with that,” remarks the manager, who is well aware of the real ambitions at Preston.
The surprise removal of Alan Irvine as manager in December, just seven months after he took the club into the play-offs, and the appointment of the man who led Peterborough United to two consecutive promotions before his own abrupt departure is instructive.
Burnley’s rise into the Premier League, arguably more so than Blackburn and Bolton before them, has been keenly felt at Preston, whose heritage and stadium leaves them longing to share the same stage. “That’s what I’ve been brought here to do and I’ve got three and a half years to do it,” says Ferguson. “The club has shown where they want to go by getting rid of Alan and bringing me in even though they got to the play-offs last year, so maybe that tells its own story, I don’t know. I want to be a manager a long time and you have to be careful where you go too quickly. I’ve had a little bit of experience and this is the best club for me. Maybe Paul Ince went to Blackburn a little bit too early but sometimes it’s difficult to turn down jobs. I know this is the best job for me.”
- Guardian Service
