Battle of the Fergusons – Duncan v Darren

The Tartan Vegans versus The Posh

Welcome to Duncan Ferguson for his first home match in charge of FGR.

Darren Ferguson returned as manager in January 2023

Peterborough’s manager recruitment strategy seems to be to alternate between Darren Ferguson and Grant McCann – both have been Peterborough manager 4 times.

Glasgow born Ferguson played for Manchester United, Wolves & Wrexham. Apart from Peterborough he has also managed Preston & Doncaster.

Ever since Grant McCann returned as Posh manager last February 2022, replacing Darren Ferguson, fans had been joking about Ferguson coming back for a fourth spell. Very few seriously thought he would return to London Road but with Posh’s promotion push having come unstuck at the end of 2022, chairman Darragh MacAnthony, in January 2023, opted for the tried and tested.

Grant McCann playing for Cheltenham.

During his previous three spells as Posh manager, Ferguson has won four promotions – most recently leading the club out of League One in 2021.

He resigned in February of last year with Posh stuck in the Championship relegation zone. MacAnthony wanted him to stay.Ferguson subsequently stated that Posh weren’t “ambitious enough” with their investment and he “couldn’t face the prospect” of being back in League One. Ferguson, clearly, he has had a change of heart.

Reece Brown in his first stint at FGR

Reece Brown

Reece Brown is in his second spell at FGR but has had three spells, albeit on loan, at Peterborough. In his first spell at FGR he played seventy-eight times and scored thirteen goals. He has played fifty-six times, scoring twice, in total for Peterborough.

He was released by Birmingham in 2017 and joined FGR, where he spent two seasons before signing for Huddersfield Town. He spent the second half of the 2019–20 season on loan at Peterborough, re-joined the club, also on loan, for the following season, and for a third time in January 2022. Released by Huddersfield in 2022, he re-joined Forest Green Rovers.

Reece Brown returns to FGR.

Luke McGee played for Peterborough on loan from August 2016 to May 2017.

Matt Stevens played for Peterborough from July 2016 to July 2019.

In April 2022, Peterborough were relegated back to L1 following a 1-0 defeat at home against Nottingham Forest.

They are currently 7th in L1 with 41 points – one place outside the play off places.

January results

Peterborough have had 2 matches postponed due to a frozen pitch including one controversially called off 90 minutes before kick off which has resulted in Peterborough paying for 30 coaches for Charlton supporters for the re-arranged match.

Peterborough 2 Portsmouth 1

Port Vale 0 Peterborough 2

Peterborough 0 Wycombe 3

The Peterborough Fans Forum can be found here – www.theposhforum.co.uk – Index page

Jonson Clarke-Harris

Last time Peterborough were in L1 (season 2020/21) their number 9 – Jonson Clarke-Harris won the L1 Golden Boot, the EFL League One Player of the Season as well as being named in the Team of the Season at the EFL awards.

Last season despite Peterborough’s relegation Clarke-Harris scoring seven goals in his last thirteen league matches.

In July 2022, Clarke-Harris was named club captain ahead of the 2022-23 season, having already been given the armband for the latter part of last season following McCann’s arrival

Born in Leicester, Clarke-Harris is of Jamaican descent. He was called up to represent Jamaica and his debut in a 6–0 friendly defeat to Catalonia (not actually a country) on May 22. He is the current L1 top scorer.

In the transfer window Peterborough have signed defender Nathanael Ogbeta on loan from Swansea and goalkeeper Will Norris on loan from Burnley. Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson says he thinks the squad he has inherited is good enough to get promoted without many new signings. Ferguson does not think he needs to do much even though defenders Kell Watts and Joe Tomlinson are facing lengthy spells out injured, and on-loan goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom has been recalled by Chelsea.

On transfer deadline day Peterborough  signed Chesterfield striker Kabongo Tshimanga. The 25-year-old has agreed a loan deal until the end of the season before a permanent move to the League One side in the summer. He has scored 31 goals in 42 National League appearances since joining Chesterfield at the start of last season, having scored 40 goals in the previous two campaigns at Boreham Wood.

Mark Cooper former FGR & Peterborough Manager

Mark Cooper

 Mark Cooper followed his famous father Terry, the great Leeds & England full back, into the sport, starting his career with Bristol City in 1987. During a 22-year playing career he was at 17 clubs, including 2002-2 making forty-eight appearances and scoring eighteen goals for FGR. He played 457 league games, during which he scored 115 goals, with his five-year spell at non-league Tamworth being his longest at any club. At two of his final three clubs, he also combined the role with being manager. He then went into management full-time, with clubs both outside and within EFL.

In November 2009, Cooper, at the time manager of Kettering, agreed to a three-and-a-half-year contract to become Darren Ferguson’s successor as manager of then Championship side Peterborough. Cooper was sacked just thirteen games into his tenure on 1 February 2010 with only one win in those thirteen games

After leaving Peterborough Cooper managed Darlington, Kettering (again), Telford, Swindon, who he took to the L1 playoff final, & Notts County. After leaving Notts County, Cooper became manager of FGR; when he joined, on 9 May, they had just reached the 2016 National League Play off Final, although caretaker manager Scott Bartlett took charge for the final at Wembley, which FGR lost, with Cooper in an advisory role. The following season he oversaw FGR’s historic promotion to the Football League. On 11 April 2021, Forest Green Rovers parted company with Cooper after five years at the club.

In 2021/22 season Cooper managed Barrow and is now the Yeovil manager.

Peterborough United formed in 1934 and joined the Midland League. Having won the Midland League title for five consecutive seasons from 1955 to 1956, they were elected to the Football League in 1960. Peterborough immediately won the 4^th Division title in 1960–61, scoring a Football League record 134 goals. Relegated in 1968, they won another Fourth Division title in 1973–74, though suffered a further relegation in 1979. Peterborough were promoted back into the 3^rd Division at the end of the 1990–91 season and reached the second tier with victory in the 1992 Play-off Final. However, they returned to the fourth tier with relegations in 1994 and 1997.

Peterborough won the Third Division play-offs in 2000 under the stewardship of Barry Fry, though were relegated in 2005. They secured a place in the Championship after manager Darren Ferguson’s   led them to consecutive promotions in 2007–08 and 2008–09 and spent three of the next four seasons in the second tier, winning a play-off final in 2011 after relegation the previous year. They were relegated back into League One in 2013, though went on to win the Football League Trophy in 2014. In the 2020-21 season, Peterborough were promoted back to the Championship, finishing runners-up after an eight-year stay in L1. In 2021-22 they were relegated back to League 1.

The Club have announced that in partnership with the local council that they are actively seeking a site to build a new stadium, in an area called the Embankment, close to the existing ground. The stadium will have a planned initial capacity of 17,500, with the potential to be increased to 22,000. The new stadium will meet Premier League standards. It is likely that London Road will be redeveloped for housing.

Peterborough have more than their fair share of mascots – Peter Burrow, a giant rabbit and Mr Posh & Ms Posh who share similar taste in clothes – top hats, monocles etc..

Ms Posh

Peterborough United are nicknamed “The Posh”, a moniker coined in 1921, after Pat Tirrell, manager of Fletton United, was reported to say he was “Looking for posh players for a posh new team”. When Fletton United looked to join the Southern League in 1923 they added Peterborough to their name to form Peterborough & Fletton United, in an attempt to gain the backing of businesses in Peterborough. Peterborough & Fletton United went bankrupt in October 1932 so the current club is the third to be known as The Posh. However, the term “posh” was used as a derogatory term for the club by the press.

In 2002 Victoria Beckham filed a counterclaim with the UK Patent Office over the club’s application to register their nickname of “Posh” for use on merchandise. The former Spice Girl, who was known in the group as “Posh Spice”, claimed the “nickname ‘Posh’ has become synonymous with her on a worldwide basis”. She was unsuccessful in her suit

In March 2014 football star David Beckham caused a stir in Stroud one lunchtime when he was spotted in a black Range Rover at Dudbridge petrol station opposite Sainsbury’s supermarket. It was assumed he was checking out the location of the Supporters Club Coach pick up point for the upcoming Dartford Away match.

If , like David Beckham, you need to know the locations of  the away coach pick up points click here –

Away travel arrangements 22/23 – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)

Mr Posh

Accepted wisdom is that the word posh originates from P&O ticket clerks writing the acronym POSH – Port Out, Starboard Home, on tickets for boats going to India to indicate the cooler and thus more expensive cabins. This theory has been largely debunked – It first appeared in print in the 1940s, there is no actual evidence to back it up and, in any case, acronyms only came into use with in World War 1 with the military. AWOL (Absent Without Leave) is about the first known example of an acronym and indeed the word acronym itself did not exist until World War 2.

Another theory is that it is student slang – backed up by a PG Wodehouse story and a Punch cartoon.

William Henley, the local Gloucestershire poet who wrote the famous poem Invictus (‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul ) and the inspiration (although a poet and not a pirate)  for Long John Silver, also co-wrote a dictionary of slang citing Posh as ‘a dandy, a well-dressed and well off, man about town’. Henley’s daughter who sadly died aged 5 years old, incidentally, was the inspiration for J M Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’ and originated the name Wendy (She referred to Barrie as her ‘Fwendy wendy’).

Obviously saying its origin is in slang is not really much of an explanation though.

There is another theory that the word originates from an early Welsh and/or Latin word meaning coin or specifically a halfpenny but how this made the jump in meaning is not clear.

So, nobody really has a scoobies.