Ron Ferguson (footballer)

For the father of Sarah, Duchess of York, see Ronald Ferguson.

Ron Ferguson
Personal information
Full name Ronald Charles Ferguson[1]
Date of birth (1957-02-09)9 February 1957[2]
Place of birth Accrington,[2] England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
– Sheffield Wednesday
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1974–1976 Sheffield Wednesday 11 (1)
1975–1976 → Scunthorpe United (loan) 3 (0)
1976–1980 Darlington 114 (18)
1980–1986 Racing Jet de Bruxelles 135 (35)
1986–1989 La Louvière 28 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ronald Charles Ferguson (born 9 February 1957) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Sheffield Wednesday, Scunthorpe United and Darlington, and in the Belgian League for Racing Jet de Bruxelles and La Louvière, in the 1970s and 1980s. He played as a forward.[2]

Life and career

Ferguson was born in Accrington, Lancashire,[2] and attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.[4] He began his football career as a youngster with Sheffield Wednesday,[2] and made his first-team debut on 9 November 1974, a couple of months after his 17th birthday; he scored the opening goal in a 3–0 defeat of York City in the Second Division. He finished the season with eleven appearances.[3][5] In December 1975, he joined Fourth Division club Scunthorpe United on loan; he played three times without scoring.[6] Sheffield Wednesday released Ferguson in the second half of the 1975–76 season, and he signed for Fourth Division Darlington,[7] for whom he scored the only goal of the game against Torquay United on 15 March 1976.[8]

In December 1976, Ferguson scored the only goal of the match to eliminate Wednesday from the 1976–77 FA Cup. The powerful drive, from a distance estimated at anything from 30 to 50 yards (25 to 45 m),[7][9] was voted best goal ever seen at Darlington's Feethams ground in a 2003 poll on the occasion of the ground's closure.[10] Two weeks later, he scored in the local derby with Hartlepool in less spectacular fashion, "scrambl[ing] in the equaliser" after an hour of the match.[11] In something over four seasons with Darlington, he made 114 league appearances and scored 18 goals.[2]

In 1980, Ferguson began a six-season spell with Racing Jet de Bruxelles, then of the Belgian Second Division. During that time they were relegated to the third tier, enjoyed two successive promotions to spend the 1984–85 season in the First Division, and returned to the Second. They were promoted in 1986, but that year Ferguson moved on to La Louvière, where he spent three seasons playing in the third tier.[2][12]

References

  1. ^ "Ron Ferguson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Ron Ferguson". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Players Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  3. ^ a b Jackson, Stuart. "Ronnie Ferguson". The Sheffield Wednesday Archive. Adrian Bullock. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Former Gainsborough student returns to UK". Gainsborough People. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  5. ^ Jackson, Stuart. "Season 1974–1975". The Sheffield Wednesday Archive. Adrian Bullock. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  6. ^ "The Iron Alphabet". Scunthorpe United F.C. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007.
  7. ^ a b "Looking back at the past". Farewell to Feethams. Darlington Supporters' Trust. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Last night's matches". Daily Mirror. London. 16 March 1976. p. 32.
  9. ^ "Mansfield humbled at home by Matlock". The Times. London. 16 December 1976. p. 12. Ron Ferguson surprised his former club, Sheffield Wednesday, by crashing in a 30 yards drive for Darlington, which sufficed to knock out Wednesday in another second round tie.
    Edwards, Luke (3 May 2003). "The pain and glory of leaving home". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Stars come out for party". Evening Gazette. Middlesbrough. 1 May 2003. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Third and Fourth round-up". Daily Mirror. London. 28 December 1976. p. 27.
  12. ^ Ploquin, Phil; Nackaerts, Luc; Coolsaet, Jeroen (10 May 2013). "Belgium – Final Tables 1895–2008". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 11 April 2014.