The pigeon fancier was smiling and laughing. Sometimes these are the best hours as a football manager – introduction day – before a ball has been kicked. Certainly it looked that way for Duncan Ferguson as he walked into Glentoran on Monday morning.
This is “the” Duncan Ferguson, by the way. Everton Ferguson, Scottish Ferguson, “Big Dunc”. And, yes, he has just succeeded Declan Devine as head coach of Glentoran. Ferguson becomes the Glens’ 12th manager of the 21st century, not the most reassuring statistic.
It is an appointment with an echo of Shelbourne’s announcement of Damien Duff five years ago. That wrong-footed a few.
Duff talked the talk, then walked the walk. His talent and determination brought a step change at Shels; his charisma brought attention to the League of Ireland. Duff gave everyone involved, colleagues and opponents, a competitive spark.
Duncan Ferguson’s status in Irish football is hardly Duff’s, but there are similarities in Premier League profile and in the context of Glens and Shels, not least The Oval and Tolka Park, two grounds that could double as museum pieces. Shels had not won the League of Ireland since 2006 when Duff jinked in; Glentoran have not won the Irish League since 2009.
So far, and it is barely a week, there have been comparable reactions to Ferguson in Belfast with Duff in Dublin. Reputation alone does not mean success, but it does ensure people stop and stare, and Irish football can never get enough eyeballs. Duff pushed Shelbourne to the Cup final in his first season, then won the title in his third. Every week he seemed to send volts through the League.
Were Ferguson to emulate that, they will be happy at The Oval, not least because it would mean he has seen out the third year of a three-year contract.
Last season was an improvement, but the joke was Glentoran finished third in a two-horse race. The suggestion is there is something “Spursy” about Glentoran. Ferguson, one imagines, won’t like that.
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But Day One is no time for such reflection, it’s about the future, optimism, and so Ferguson was in fine form. Noting the Glens’ nickname is the “Cock ‘n’ Hens”, he said: “I still keep my pigeons.” Informed that the blue of Everton and Rangers, while it may have been part of him forever, will not be welcome due to its Linfield connotations, he said Glentoran’s “shirt is lovely”. He had already taken his first training session and laughed that only one player had been sick.
He will live in Belfast – “I’ll be fully committed, all hands on deck.” He is 54 and has not coached for two years, since Inverness Caledonian Thistle fell into administration. That was not his fault, but after a short stint at Forest Green Rovers did not go well, Ferguson needs this to. There is some motivational jeopardy for both parties, because Glentoran cannot keep trundling along.
The club is run by Ali Pour, part of a 2019 consortium takeover. Money has been pumped into the team, but the sum which could transform The Oval sits in a fund at Stormont awaiting disposal. Just as the League of Ireland is held back by infrastructure, so is the Irish League. A functioning local government focused on delivering local services rather than exacerbating local division would be of use.
So when Ferguson sends out his first selection on Saturday to face Ballymena United, it is into an arena Danny Blanchflower would recognise – and he left Glentoran in 1949. More worrying, Peter Doherty might recognise it and he left in 1933. The 2019 film about Manchester City’s German goalkeeper Bert Trautmann used The Oval for scenes of 1950s Maine Road.
Some of us are almost as old as Trautmann. My first Glentoran match was this month in 1977. It just happened to be against Juventus in the second round of the European Cup. What a team the Glens had then, and Juve weren’t bad – Dino Zoff in goal, Claudio Gentile in front of him, Marco Tardelli, who scored that goal in the 1982 World Cup final, Roberto Bettega and Roberto Boninsegna – the man who scored Italy’s goal in the greatest World Cup final of them all, 1970’s against Brazil. He must have been thrilled to be at The Oval.
In a young boy’s memory, though, none of them compared to Franco Causio, one of those wingers who sent the crowd the wrong way. Some ended up in the shipyard that night.
Causio scored the only goal, but Johnny Jamison hit the bar and Warren Feeney missed a penalty – or had it saved by Zoff. Feeney, Jamison, Victor Moreland, Billy Caskey, these were serious players and Jimmy Cleary was yet to arrive at The Oval.
Giovanni Trapattoni was Juve manager and thought his part-time hosts were “too eager”. Juve won the second leg 5-0 on the way to the semi-final.
Trap and Tardelli would return to Ireland many years later, of course, though not to watch Shelbourne v Glentoran because there is no all-island league in Ireland despite the first Irish League season being 1890-91. Glentoran were in it and Shels joined them in it in 1904.
More World Cup figures came to east Belfast in 1992 in the new Champions League. Marseilles had Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli and, up front, Rudi Völler. They won 5-0 as Voller was subjected to insulting and, frankly, the most improbable abuse. There’s no way he had family on the New Lodge Road.
Returning three weeks ago for Glentoran-Carrick Rangers, the old ground looked the same as in 1992 and 1977. Because, essentially, it is. There were “Groundhoppers” over from the Netherlands – The Oval has become a place to tick off. They stood outside the club shop in new merchandise and beamed, then moved across to ancient terraces to take in the vista as planes from George Best Airport came and went. The attendance was around 2,000-3,000 including lots of youngsters. The potential is obvious; it so needs redevelopment.
It was the first match after Devine and the “Glentoran Gazette” – published by “the oldest supporters’ club in Ireland” – said a touching farewell to the Derryman, a popular former Glens’ player. Out on the pitch Greg Sloggett was part of a comfortable home win.
There have been two more since and Big Dunc’s new team sit third, but 11 points behind leaders Coleraine, where there has been investment.
Duff changed Shelbourne, and outsiders’ idea of the club, through energy and effort. Equal it, and Ferguson can have a comparable impact at Glentoran. Already his mere presence has provoked a new conversation about the Irish League.
