Duncan Ferguson Takes Glentoran Job After Two Years Out of Football

• Duncan Ferguson, 54, has been named manager of Irish Premiership club Glentoran on what the club describe as a “multi-year contract”.
• Glentoran last won the league in 2009 and sit 11 points behind leaders Coleraine, and Ferguson says he wants to win trophies.
• Former Glentoran captain Paul Leeman called the appointment “a risk” as Ferguson is better known as a number two and does not know the league.

The Everton Hero Who Did Not Know If He Would Get Back In

Duncan Ferguson did not know whether he would return to football or move into television work. Two years after his last job, the former Everton striker has an answer: he is the new manager of Glentoran, a club in east Belfast that has not won the Irish league title for 17 years.

“I’ve been out of football for two years,” Ferguson said at his first news conference on Monday. “I didn’t know if was going to get back in or do television work but it’s a great chance for me.” The club confirmed the appointment the same day.

“I’ll give the club everything and I expect the players to give everything as well,” he said. He described the football he wants to see: “I’ll bring a football team that will really run, run and run. I’ll push them as hard as I can and set them up tactically well.”

What He Is Inheriting

Glentoran sit third in the Irish Premiership after winning six and losing four of their first 12 league games, and BBC Sport reports they are 11 points adrift of Coleraine at the top. “At the minute we’re bit adrift of the top two or three,” Ferguson said.

He also named the weakness he wants to fix. “Defensively we have been very good but we’ve lacked in creating chances so hopefully we can play attacking football,” Ferguson said.

The club has spent heavily without a title to show for it. Owner Ali Pour has put significant money into Glentoran and the club adopted a full-time professional model in recent years. The County Antrim Shield win in 2024-25 ended a trophy drought that dated to the Irish Cup in 2020. Declan Devine, who guided the club to that Shield, left by mutual consent in September after two and a half years in charge.

Why Glentoran Chose Ferguson

Pour said the club ran a “rigorous recruitment process”, interviewing candidates from across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scandinavia. He and sporting director Paul Millar met Ferguson several times in Liverpool. “His football knowledge, experience and determination to take on this opportunity impressed us,” Pour said.

Glentoran had been linked with Jim Magilton, the former Northern Ireland international, who stayed at their league rivals Cliftonville. Ferguson said the conversations with Pour and Millar won him over. “The more I spoke with Ali and Paul, the more I wanted the job. Their ambition matches my own.”

Ferguson said he is confident of financial support. “They’ve got ambition,” he said. He described himself as “a people person” and said the owner has “backed the club for the last number of years”. His aim is plain. “I want to win trophies here. Glentoran should be challenging for the title and every cup and shield we enter.”

The Doubts

Paul Leeman, who captained Glentoran and played 597 games for the club, told BBC Radio Ulster about his reaction. “I still can’t believe it,” he said. “It’s a huge appointment and I’m interested to see his plans for Glentoran.”

Leeman was open about the risk. “It is a risk and he’s been known more as a number two,” he said. “But he has bags of experience in football. He’s worked at the top, top level and there’s certainly something he can add to the team.” He said Ferguson “doesn’t know the league”, so he needs people around him who do, and he expects the new manager to “demand respect from the players straight away”.

A Managerial Career Still Being Written

Ferguson played for Dundee United, Rangers, Everton and Newcastle United and won seven Scotland caps. His coaching career has included time as assistant manager at Everton under Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez, and two spells as caretaker boss. He has managed Forest Green Rovers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Gary Bollan, a former Dundee United teammate who worked with him at Inverness, joins as assistant manager.

His first game in charge is at home to Ballymena United on Saturday at 3pm. Ferguson said he has “signed for the long term” and wants to “get to know the people at the Club and in the wider community”. Leeman put it another way: Ferguson is “coming to the Irish League to probably try to resurrect his own managerial career”.