August. Ferguson scored his first goal for the Seasiders in a 2–0 victory over Ipswich Town at Bloomfield Road on 10 September. It was his first goal in English league football for seven years. In late October 2012, after a falling out with chairman Karl Oyston, Ferguson was made to train with the Blackpool youth team. Early the following month, he received a call from Micky Mellon, manager of nearby Fleetwood Town. Although he doubted Ferguson would want to play in League Two, Mellon put forward the offer of coming on loan. Ferguson accepted, the only such move of his career, and spent three months at Highbury Avenue. Ferguson was reinstated to the side by Paul Ince on 20 February in his first game in charge, a 2–0 defeat at Leeds United. He had been named as a substitute for the previous couple of games, under the caretaker-managership of Steve Thompson. He was given the captain's armband, in the absence of Alex Baptiste, for the home victory over Derby County on 26 April. In October 2013, Ferguson had a sixth and final operation on his ankle, which kept him out until 3 December. "After the surgery, the surgeon said, "Right, it's over. Don't try [playing] again." On 21 January 2014, Ferguson was installed as Blackpool's caretaker manager in the wake of Ince's sacking. "I didn't want to take it, but nobody else would take the job," Ferguson explained in 2020. "And it was a chance to keep the club up." He initially stated that he would not be playing while in the managerial role, but on 12 April, at Leeds, he named himself in the starting line-up in an attempt to stave off the threat of relegation. "Bob [Malcolm] says to me, 'You'll need to come back in.' I said, 'Bob, I've not trained for six weeks.' He said, 'You'll need to come back and play; we're struggling.'" Although Blackpool won only three of their twenty games with Ferguson in charge, they avoided relegation by two points. Ferguson left Blackpool at the end of the 2013–14 season. International Ferguson made twelve appearances for Scotland's under-21 team. He made his full international debut at the age of 20 against Lithuania on 5 September 1998. However, an injury-plagued season prevented him from picking up more caps. Indeed, Ferguson did not return to the Scotland set up until a year later, starting in