Darren Ferguson defends leaving Ashley Young's son Tyler on bench for FA Cup tie
2025-01-10
Category: sports

Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson has defended his decision not to bring on Tyler Young during his side's FA Cup defeat by Everton at Goodison Park.The League One side were beaten 2-0 by the Toffees on Thursday night after a first-half strike from Beto and an injury-time penalty from Iliman Ndiaye. The build-up to the third-round tie had been dominated by talk of the possibility of Everton full-back Ashley Young facing his 18-year-old son Tyler. Never in the 154-year history of the FA Cup have a father and son played against one another. However, while Ashley was introduced from the bench with 17 minutes of normal time remaining, Tyler remained an unused substitute as Ferguson made his fifth and final substitution in the 88th minute with the side 1-0 down. "It was very difficult to leave Tyler on the bench but I've got to do what I think is best for the team," said Ferguson."As much as I wanted Tyler to get on, if the game had been 2-0 at that point I would've put him on but at 1-0, I had to get a forward on. I've got to try and get something out of the game and do what is best for my team."One of their [Everton] players had a pop at me, which was bang out of order. We are not a charity case."
Tyler has made just one substitute appearance for Peterborough this season and he was not named in any of the previous 14 matchday squads before the trip to Everton.In a possible indication of his unhappiness at not playing against his son, Everton defender Young posted the word 'gutted' in capital letters on his X account on Friday morning. "Father and son there. It didn't happen," former Everton defender Martin Keown said on commentary."But Ashley will be saying to him [Tyler], 'Don't worry, you've got a big future ahead of you'."