The Ferguson family have not had the best couple of days. Darren Ferguson was on the verge of being relieved of his duties as manager of Peterborough United yesterday, about 24 hours after Sir Alex, his father, was bemoaning Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea, which left them five points off the pace in the Barclays Premier League.

Ferguson, 37, led Peterborough to the Coca-Cola Championship last season after winning back-to-back promotions, but they are at the bottom of the table with 11 points from a possible 48. They have won only two matches, both at home, and performed poorly in the 3-1 defeat away to Newcastle United at the weekend, a result that pushed them to the foot of the table for the first time.

Peter Taylor, the former Leicester City and England Under-21 manager, is among the candidates to replace Ferguson, who is believed to have learnt of his dismissal at a meeting with Darragh MacAnthony, the chairman, at London Road yesterday. Taylor left Wycombe Wanderers last month, having guided them to promotion from League Two last season.

The move represents a considerable reversal of fortunes for Ferguson, who has been regarded as an increasingly promising managerial talent. Reading expressed interest in him as a potential successor to Steve Coppell last summer, and he was forced to deny reports linking him with Aberdeen, his father’s previous club. So concerned were Peterborough that Ferguson might be tempted away from London Road that they persuaded him to sign a new four-year contract in July.

Neither Barry Fry, the Peterborough director of football, nor Bob Symms, the chief executive, would confirm widespread reports that Ferguson Jr had paid with his job for the team’s poor start to their second spell in the second tier of English football. An official announcement clarifying his status is expected today.

Yesterday’s events will be regarded, not least by Ferguson himself, as a temporary setback in an attempt to follow in his father’s illustrious footsteps, and it may be some comfort that even Sir Alex was sacked early in his career, by St Mirren, before beginning the steady upward trajectory that brought him honours at Aberdeen and Old Trafford.

In fact, Darren Ferguson predicted in the summer that a stumble was inevitable at some point in his own career. “No one can do what my father has done,” he said. “It will never happen again. What stands out is the longevity, 20 years at a club like Manchester United. Football is such a business now and it’s impossible to stay at a club as big as United for that amount of time.”

Ferguson, who began his playing career under his father’s wing at Manchester United, became Peterborough manager in January 2007 and addressed the issue of his heritage in an early team meeting, telling players: “I can’t afford to fail because of my name and because I don’t want to.”

The team finished six points short of the play-offs in his first season, but were the highest scorers at home in the division, and George Boyd, Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron Mclean, all signed from non-League clubs, had begun to form the strike partnership that would carry them to successive promotions, the team scoring 172 league goals over the course of their two promotion campaigns.

Ferguson’s achievements were recognised in the summer with the League Managers’ Association’s manager-of-the-season award for League One, and, despite a disappointing start to the present campaign, there was no immediate sign that Ferguson’s job was in peril. In fact, he was backed publicly only a month ago by MacAnthony, an Irish multimillionaire who has put a considerable amount of money into the club.

“I will give Darren time to turn things around,” MacAnthony said. “Even if we get relegated, we’d have a manager who knows how to get out of League One. This football club won’t be relegated. I won’t be panicking.”

However, the club were forced to deny that Ferguson’s position was precarious after reports in a Sunday paper nine days ago — a denial that now sounds very hollow indeed.

Rising son

Jan 2007 Succeeds Keith Alexander as manager of Peterborough

2008 Peterborough win promotion from Coca-Cola League Two

2009 Peterborough win promotion from Coca-Cola League One. Ferguson is LMA League One manager of the season