Duncan Ferguson full of pride to be leading Everton

Everton caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson said he feels excited to be in charge of the Blues for the first time when Chelsea visit Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime.

Former Everton striker and cult hero Ferguson will act as interim boss under the club’s hierarchy appoint a replacement for Marco Silva, who was sacked on Thursday after 18 months as Toffees manager.

Speaking at Friday’s pre-match press conference, Ferguson said that though he and the players feel greatly for Silva having lost his job, he cannot hide his excitement about what tomorrow may bring:

“[It will be an] incredibly proud moment for me. Everybody knows how I feel about the club. i’ll be incredibly proud, emotional, nervous, excited, and looking for a positive result.

“It’s not nice when a manager loses his job. We all felt for him and supported him as best we could. It’s unfortunate he’s lost his job, but results determine that. It was a sad time.

“Nobody likes to see their manager lose their job, me included. There was a mixed feeling [among the players], but we’ve got to try and pick them up now. The good thing about football is there’s always another game.”

Silva was relieved of his duties on the same day that majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri addressed the players at Finch Farm after training, but Ferguson added he was not at that meeting, so knows nothing about what was said.

The Scot also revealed he only found out he would be temporarily in charge after Silva’s departure was confirmed, and said he didn’t think twice about whether he wanted to step up from first team coach to take the role on:

“I have no idea to be honest with you, because I wasn’t in the meeting, so I’m not quite sure what was said. All that was said to me was that I was stepping in. That’s it.

“I found out last night. I don’t remember the actual time; it was maybe 7pm. Obviously, they told me the manager had lost his job and they wanted me to step in. Of course, I never hesitated. It was a proud moment for myself; it’s exciting.”

Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images

Looking ahead to Saturday’s visit of Frank Lampard’s high-flying Chelsea, Ferguson said the most important factor in Everton’s preparations is rebuilding the players’ understandably low confidence, especially after Wednesday’s 5-2 defeat at Liverpool.

But he admitted he is relishing the challenge that Saturday’s game will bring and will do as much as he can in the meantime to ensure the team he picks are thoroughly prepared for the battle:

“When you’re getting beat 5-2 by Liverpool, it doesn’t help you. We need to try and make sure we get the players onside and get them in a good frame of mind and pick them up quickly.

“In football, there’s always another big game coming, and there’s none bigger than Chelsea at home.

“Obviously, it’s a difficult task because it’s such a short period of time, but we’ve got to try and motivate the players and make sure they know what’s needed to play for this club. We need to make sure we’re up for the fight, up for the match, and that’s what we’re trying to do at the moment.”