Ryan Batty

Darren Ferguson is a professional football manager whose job is to chase results not romantic headlines. Of course, it would have been lovely, all emotional and a media dream if he’d sent Tyler Young on at Goodison to share the pitch with his father Ashley, and share a little piece of FA Cup history. But not with the Posh pushing for an equaliser. Ferguson did what was best for his team not what was best for the media. Tyler’s 18 and has played only 27 minutes for the club (in the Football League Trophy). Ferguson would probably have been similarly criticised if he’d sent on such an inexperienced player when he had stronger options. Everton’s second did not arrive until the 97th minute. That effectively ended the tie, which lasted another two minutes but Ferguson had used all his subs by then. The narrative is inevitably given a further twist by Darren having been picked by his father, Alex Ferguson, for Manchester United as a teenager but it’s often forgotten that Darren was highly regarded as a young midfield player. He was a serious option to start. Brian Clough and Nottingham Forest, as well as Tottenham Hotspur, pursued him. Ferguson senior was certainly not the type to make selection decisions based on sentiment. And his son is clearly the same, and rightly so. Last night was a competitive game, not a testimonial jolly. #pufc