Forest Green Rovers chairman Dale Vince admits he couldn’t believe Duncan Ferguson wanted a managerial job and reveals how the ‘magical’ appointment came about

Forest Green Rovers chairman Dale Vince said the appointment of Duncan Ferguson was “magical” and believes it is the start of a great partnership.

The club sacked Ian Burchnall on Monday despite being bottom of the Ligue 1 table.

However, it didn’t take them long to find their next date, with Everton legend Ferguson taking the reins.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, Vince revealed how the club managed to make such an appointment.

“It all really came out of nowhere,” he said. “We were busy in January signing players, probably five or six of them. One of them was told by the agent that Duncan Ferguson would be interested in the role if he became available.

“Firstly it wasn’t available at the time but we kept that in our heads, secondly Duncan Ferguson, are you serious? So we reached out yesterday after I had to make the decision and fire our Coach Ian Burchnall He’s not a bad guy at all but he’s had kind of a bad season, bad circumstances let’s say.

“After speaking to Ian, we reached out to Duncan. He came straight in and we had a great chat, made a deal, and then he’s back here today the next day to talk to the media and get stuck in.

Ferguson will embark on the first managerial job of his career having only been caretaker boss of Everton twice.

But Vince has high hopes for the Scot, adding: “I mean we’re on the same page, we’re both footballers. We both have ambition, we’re going to make a great team.

“We’ve had a bunch of applications since it was announced yesterday that we were going to change coaches, but we were just like, ‘Look, I don’t think we’ll find better than this.’ We could go through a process and talk to a lot of other people, but it actually sounds perfect, so we did it.

“I had the conversation with Ian yesterday morning and then we got to Duncan, he came down and got along really well. Obviously he’s a bit of a legend at Everton and I knew him, I’m a fan of what he did in football.

“I just couldn’t believe he was actually interested in coming and then when he came down it was just bish bosh, why wouldn’t we want him?”

He added: “The feedback from the staff is already that the players are excited, positive. So are the fans, everyone around the club today is buzzing.

“It’s the kind of signing of a new head coach you probably wouldn’t dream of, but it happened anyway, it’s kind of magical.”

Forest Green were promoted to Ligue 1 last season but are currently four points from safety.

That clearly didn’t deter Ferguson, with Vince saying: “He’s a great character, I love his approach to positivity and stuff like that. Honestly, we’re going to make the best team, there’s no doubt about it.

“It also says something about Duncan that his first job is a relegation battle, he’s not afraid of it.”

He added: “It’s fantastic to have him join us, I’m really excited about it.”

Ferguson’s first game in charge will be a trip to Shrewsbury Town on Saturday, a side that are three places below the play-offs.

His former club, Everton, are on the hunt for their new manager, with Marcelo Bielsa and Sean Dyche being linked.

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