Darren Ferguson left his role as Peterborough last Saturday evening by ‘mutual consent’ following a poor run of form in League One. One win in five leaves the Posh in 15th position but still just four points off a play-off position. In his second spell at the club, Ferguson spent over four years in charge and if the ‘mutual consent’ excuse is a cover up for the Scotsman’s dismissal then surely with the success he has brought to the club he can feel extremely aggrieved by this decision.

Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony described Darren Ferguson as “one of the finest managers in our club’s history” which is something that is hard to disagree with considering how he has turned the club around in his two spells. It is then a mystery as to why the chairman didn’t think Ferguson was good enough to stop the rot and that there are better managers available at this time.

Darren Ferguson first took over as Posh boss in January 2007 initially in a player-manager role. After consolidating in mid-table during his first season, the 2007/08 campaign saw the club promoted from League Two and in his second full season promotion was once again achieved. This meant that in 2009 the club were playing Championship football for the first time since 1994 and for just the second time in their history, before Ferguson left to join Preston North End.

He returned to Peterborough just a year later at the start of 2011 with the Posh back in League One. He led the club to promotion once again in his first season back. Ferguson then managed to keep Peterborough in the Championship for two seasons until relegation in 2013, despite amassing 54 points which is a record for a relegated team at this level.

Last season saw the team end up in sixth place before a narrow defeat to Leyton Orient in the semi-finals. They also won their first trophy in 2014 lifting the Football League Trophy with a 3-1 victory over Chesterfield. For a club that have achieved little in its entire history, Ferguson led them to three promotions and Peterborough’s first ever piece of silverware. His two spells were the most successful in the clubs history and Darren Ferguson will go down as one of the all time great managers in the history of Peterborough United.

With all that success in a short space of time, it seems like an extremely knee-jerk reaction to get rid of a manager after a couple of months of poor form. Given the tightness of the league, Ferguson could very well have been the man to turn it around but won’t be given that opportunity now. It just proves how hard management is nowadays, especially in the lower leagues and no matter how much success you have had, no manager is ever safe in his job.