Fergie’s killjoy nepo baby: Sir Alex Ferguson’s son Darren is slammed for denying Ashley Young his ‘dream’ by refusing to play his son against him – after his own famous father handed him ‘lucky’ break

Sir Alex Ferguson’s son Darren has been criticized for denying Ashley Young a piece of FA Cup history on Thursday night.

Young, 39, was a second-half substitute in Everton’s 2-0 win over Peterborough, who had his 18-year-old son Tyler on their own bench.

No father and son have ever faced each other in the 154 years of English football’s oldest competition, but that looked set to change at Goodison Park.

However, Tyler was an unused substitute as the League One side exited the FA Cup in the third round following goals from Beto and Iliman Ndiaye.

Ashley posted the one-word ‘GUTTED’ message on X on Friday morning after previously saying it was her ‘dream’ to share the pitch with her son, and fans expressed their sympathy for the former Manchester United star, and some argued that Darren has only had success in the game thanks to his own famous father.

“It’s pretty ironic how Darren Ferguson literally has a career in football thanks to his father and yet he denied Ashley Young the opportunity to share the field with her son Tyler,” one fan posted on X.

“Darren Ferguson has blood on his hands for not bringing Tyler Young to play against his dad Ashley Young tonight,” another X account added.

“Not bringing Tyler Young to play against his dad (Ashley Young) is pretty bad of Darren Ferguson,” another fan stated.

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“Out of order dude, no problem leaving it for the last 10,” another fan responded to Ashley.

Sir Alex was in the stands to watch his son’s team in action, but he didn’t get the chance to see another father-son combination make history.

Roy Keane, who left Manchester United after falling out with Ferguson Sr in 2005, has criticized the legendary Red Devils boss in the past for giving his own son a “lucky” break in football.

Darren was on United’s books as a player and won a Premier League medal in 1993, despite struggling to break into the first team before leaving to join Wolves the following year.

Keane accused Sir Alex of being too generous to family members during his time at Old Trafford and then helping Darren when he turned to management.

Keane said: ‘Darren Ferguson won a medal. He was very lucky.

“His brother was Manchester United’s chief scout for a long time. I’m surprised his wife wasn’t involved in the staff somewhere.

‘Darren was (the manager) at Preston North End and he lost his job. He had a couple of young players on loan from Manchester United. Guess what happens the next day? They get them out of Preston.

‘Is that the best for Manchester United? Do me a favor.’

One fan felt Darren’s behavior on Thursday proved Keane’s point.

‘That idiot Darren Ferguson just proves to Roy Keane that he’s right that the Fergusons are about themselves and not their clubs. “By the way, Darren Ferguson has a Premier League medal, but Tyler Young couldn’t make history and play against his father when they had already lost,” they wrote.

Darren defended his decision not to use Tyler in his post-match press conference, insisting he didn’t want Peterborough to look like a “charity case”.

“It was very difficult to leave Tyler on the bench, but I have to do what I think is best for the team,” Darren explained.

“As much as I wanted Tyler to advance, if the game had been 2-0 at that point I would have put him in, but at 1-0, I had to put in a forward.” I have to try to get something out of the game and do the best for my team.

“One of their players threw a pop at me that was out of character. “We are not a charity case.”

But it wasn’t just Young Sr and the fans who were left disappointed by Darren’s actions.

According The timesEverton’s players were also angry that the Young family failed to make history, and the night ended on a sour note despite the Toffees finally getting a win on the board after a poor run.