Archibald Ferguson was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. Archibald Ferguson' first known football club was Hearts, from where Ferguson was born, Edinburgh. 1887–88 season was the most successful for Hearts since they formed in 1874. The team reached the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. There is no record as to whether Archibald Ferguson played in the Scottish Cup matches. In 1888 Archibald Ferguson was brought down from Scotland before the Football League began to bolster Derby County' defence. He was described as a "no-nonsense" type of defender who had the ability to clear his lines by achieving a long kick of the ball into the opponents half. Archibald Ferguson made his Club & League debut on 8 September 1888, playing as a full–back, at

Pike's Lane Pike's Lane was a football ground in Bolton, England. It was the home ground of Bolton Wanderers between 1880 and 1895, and the venue of the first goal scored in league football anywhere in the world. History Pike's Lane opened in 1880, with t ...

, the then home of

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. Derby County defeated the home team 6–3. Archibald Ferguson appeared in 16 of the 22 League matches played by Derby County in season 1888–89. As a full–back (15 appearances) he played in a Derby County defence that achieved one clean–sheet and restricted the opposition to one–League–goal–in–a–match on four separate occasions. Ferguson stayed with Derby County for three seasons leaving in 1891. He was signed by

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

but never played for them. There was a gap in his career from 1892 until 1894 when he played twice for

Ardwick Ardwick is an area of Manchester, England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 19,250. Historically in Lancashire, by the mid-nineteenth century Ardwick had grown from being a village into a pleasant and wealt ...

(later to become

). He left Ardwick and emigrated to USA.

References

Scottish men's footballers Derby County F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Ardwick F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{Scotland-footy-defender-stub