Glenn Ferguson (born 10 July 1969) is a Northern Irish former football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. Ferguson amassed over 1,000 domestic appearances in a career where he played for

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

, Glenavon, Linfield and

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of t ...

, and scored a total of 563

goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer to: Sport * Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs ** Goals, the goal frame in ...

, placing him 2nd behind Jimmy Jones (646) on the list of all-time goalscorers in Northern Irish football. He was also capped 5 times by

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. In his 21-year career Ferguson won 30 winner's medals. He also had a five-year managerial spell with

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the ...

, where he twice won the

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

Early life

Glenn was born on 10 July 1969 in the Ulster Hospital Dundonald to Thomas and Ida Ferguson and is the youngest of their three children.

Records

Nicknamed "Spike", during his playing career, he played for

and Glenavon before joining Linfield in January 1998 for an Irish League record transfer fee of £55,000; this record was surpassed with Jamie McGonigle's move to

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in August 2019 for £60,000. He is Linfield's top scorer in European competition with 5 goals: Ferguson opening his European account with a consolation goal as Linfield were beaten 5-1 at the

Makario Stadium Makario Stadium ( el, Μακάρειο Στάδιο), is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus. It was the largest and main sports venue of the capital up to the construction of the GSP stadium in 1999. At present it is mostly u ...

in the

1998–99 UEFA Cup The 1998–99 UEFA Cup was won by Parma in the final against Marseille. It was their second title in the competition. It was the last edition of the old format UEFA Cup, before the Cup Winners' Cup was merged into it to include domestic cup winn ...

. The following week he netted again in the home leg. Ferguson netted twice against

FC Haka FC Haka is a Finnish football club based in the industry town of Valkeakoski. It is currently competing in Finland's premier division of football, Veikkausliiga. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championshi ...

in the

2000–01 UEFA Champions League The 2000–01 UEFA Champions League was the 46th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the ninth since it was rebranded from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competiti ...

and his fifth and final goal in European competition was against

Stabæk Fotball Stabæk Fotball is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bærum, a suburb of Oslo. It is part of the multi-sport organization Stabæk IF. Founded in 1912, the club's name is an archaic spelling of the suburban area Stabekk, from w ...

in the

2002–03 UEFA Cup The 2002–03 UEFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, the second-tier European club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA. The 2003 UEFA Cup Final, final was played between Portuguese side FC Porto ...

. On 1 December 2006, he scored his 226th goal for Linfield, which took his career total to 476, making him the third highest scorer in the history of the local game, behind only Jimmy Jones and Joe Bambrick. On 2 February 2008, during the CIS Cup Final, Ferguson came off the bench with 20 minutes remaining with Linfield trailing 2–1 to

. He scored twice in the last five minutes to turn around the match. Linfield won 3–2. These were his 500th and 501st goals in Irish Football, and his 250th and 251st for Linfield. On 9 February 2008 he became the all-time top goalscorer in the Irish Cup with two strikes against Bangor. Ferguson scored his 277th goal in his 500th game for Linfield in a 4–1 win over Coleraine on 13 December 2008. Ferguson was released by Linfield in May 2009, having scored 285 goals in 515 appearances for the club. He signed for

, where he would finish his career. On 28 August 2010, he played his 1,000th senior match in Northern Ireland – in Lisburn Distillery's 2–1 win over Newry City. Ferguson made his final career appearance on 30 April 2011, playing for Lisburn Distillery in their 4–3 home win over

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

International career

Having been previously capped for Northern Ireland B, Ferguson was first called into the

squad late in 1998. He made his debut against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on 7 April 1999 but did not play again until 2001. In all he won five caps, and represented the

Irish League representative team The Irish League representative team was the representative side of the Irish Football League, the national league for football in Northern Ireland from 1922 and, prior to that the league for Ireland. The Irish League was suspended from 1941–42 ...

four times, scoring twice.

Managerial career

Ferguson was appointed manager of Ballymena United on 30 December 2011. His first game in charge was against

Linfield F.C. Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club based in south Belfast which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, Li ...

on 8 January 2012, and won his first trophy as manager when the Sky Blues defeated Ferguson's former club Linfield in the

final on 27 November 2012. Ferguson led

to the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

final for the first time since winning the cup in 1989 where they were beaten 2–1 in the final by Glenavon. Ferguson was sacked in 2016 and replaced by David Jeffrey.

Honours

Player

Glenavon *

(1): 1996–97 * Gold Cup (2): 1990–91, 1997–98 * Floodlit Cup (1): 1996–97 *

(2): 1990–91, 1995–96 *

Mid-Ulster Cup The Mid-Ulster Cup is a senior football competition in Northern Ireland run by the Mid-Ulster Football Association (founded 2 April 1887). The competition has historically featured teams based in County Armagh, east County Tyrone, and west Cou ...

(1): 1990–91 * IFA Charity Shield (1): 1992 (shared) Linfield * Irish League (6): 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

(4): 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Nort ...

(4): 1998–99, 1999–00, 2005–06, 2007–08 *

(5): 1997–98, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 * IFA Charity Shield (1): 2000 *

Setanta Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of I ...

(1): 2005 Lisburn Distillery *

(1): 2010–11

Manager

Ballymena United *

(2): 2012–13, 2015–16

Individual

* Irish League top scorer (2) 1994-95 (27 goals), 2003–04 (25 goals) *

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

(3) 2000-01, 2003–04, 2005–06 *

Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year The Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year (often called the NIFWA Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in the IFA Premiership. It is one of two ass ...

(3) 2000-01, 2003–04, 2005–06 *Northern Ireland PFA Player of the Year (1) 1994

References

External links

NIFG
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Glenn 1969 births Living people Association footballers from Belfast Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Ulster Footballers of the Year Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year Ards F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Ballymena United F.C. managers Football managers from Northern Ireland Association football forwards Irish League representative players

Early life

Records

International career

Managerial career

Honours

Player

Manager

Individual

See also

References

External links