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 the home bench.

No father and son have ever played against each other in the 154 years that the oldest English football competition has existed, but that seemed to be changing at Goodison Park.

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

Ashley posted the one-word message ‘GUTTED’ to X on Friday morning, after previously saying it was his ‘dream’ to share the field with his son. Fans expressed their condolences for the former Manchester United star, with some claiming Darren only succeeded in the game thanks to his own famous father.

“It’s quite ironic that Darren Ferguson literally has a football career thanks to his father, but denied Ashley Young the opportunity to share the field with his son Tyler,” one fan wrote on X.

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

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

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“Not alright mate, there’s no harm in putting him in the final ten,” another fan replied to Ashley.

Sir Alex was in the stands to watch his son’s team in action, but 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 in the past criticized the legendary Red Devils boss for giving his own son a ‘lucky’ break into football.

Darren was on United’s books as a player, winning 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 overly generous to family members during his time at Old Trafford, and then helping Darren when he turned to management.

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

‘His brother was the chief scout of Manchester United 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 lost his job. He had hired a few young players from Manchester United. Guess what happens the next day? They are withdrawn from Preston.

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

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

‘That stupid Darren Ferguson just proves that Roy Keane is right that the Fergusons are all about themselves and not their clubs. “By the way, Darren Ferguson has a medal in the Premier League, 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 go through, if the game had been 2-0 at that point I would have put him on, but at 1-0 I had to make an attack. I have to try to get something out of the game and do what is best for my team.

‘One of their players gave me a blow that was wrong. We are not a charity case.”

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

According to The timesEverton’s players were also angry that the Young family could not make history, with the evening ending on a sour note despite the Toffees finally getting a win on the board after poor form.