In his office overlooking Doncaster Rovers’ lush training pitches Darren Ferguson is telling a story that neatly illustrates how close his father, Sir Alex, and Arsène Wenger are these days. Ferguson Jr’s side play Arsenal on Wednesday night in a Carabao Cup tie that pits two famous managerial names against each other again.

Ferguson Sr and Wenger were sworn enemies during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Manchester United and Arsenal duelled as English football’s pre‑eminent forces. The enmity, though, has faded and Wenger’s friendship with the retired Scot is borne out by the fact the Frenchman is helping Ferguson Sr to be at the Emirates to see his son’s side take on the Gunners.

“I know they had their sort of spat but they actually get on really well. They have a hell of a lot of respect for each other,” Ferguson Jr says. “In fact Arsène is sorting out the tickets for my father for Wednesday, so there you go. Coming up against the manager is a great experience for me. He is a great manager and has had a fantastic career.”

Doncaster, who are 19th in League One, are Ferguson’s third club as a manager following two spells at Peterborough and a year at Preston North End. This will be the first time he has sent a team out to face Wenger’s men. “I don’t know him but my dad knows him very well, and gets on with him very well,” the 45-year‑old says. “But I’m looking forward to coming up against him because its something I’ve never experienced.”

Ferguson became Peterborough’s player-manager in January 2007. In his following two full seasons (after retiring from playing), he gained successive promotions from League Two into the Championship.

After leaving in November 2009 he took over at Preston the following January and lasted a year before being sacked. Ferguson rejoined Posh the same month, won that season’s League One play-off final for a third promotion to the Championship, and was then relegated after two seasons, his second spell at Posh totalling four years.

Ferguson’s first campaign at Doncaster, after his appointment in November 2015, ended in relegation but last season he took them back up in what was a 10th year in management. A decade in a precarious business is its own mark of success, as is his total of four promotions. Yet he picks out the failure at Preston as the most instructive spell.

Arsène Wenger, right, and Sir Alex Ferguson ‘get on really well’ and ‘have a hell of a lot of respect for each other’, says Darren Ferguson. Photograph: John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

“It is probably the best year I’ve had in terms of learning,” Ferguson says. “It was a really different challenge going from Peterborough, where we’d had nothing but success, to there. They had really seasoned Championship players, and I tried to change it too quickly. I made a mistake but you learn from it, I really learned.

“My dad said: ‘Never go looking for added battles because they’ll find you anyway.’ That’s exactly right. And I probably didn’t pay heed to that. But when you’re young and you haven’t got the experience you have now, you want to try to get over what you’re about – your character, personality. Players don’t sometimes buy into it and there was a difficult circumstance at Preston, a new chairman, [and] the funding wasn’t there I was promised. But, I didn’t win enough games, and as a manager it’s [about] results.

“It was a great experience, though. I tried to change everything and you end up having battles all the time. I definitely learned. My jobs after that I thought: ‘Things will just work out themselves.’ Even when I came here there were some quite experienced players and I just let things take care of themselves rather than go looking for it.”

Ferguson’s willingness to admit to taking a wrong turn shows an intelligence and determination that may be key in fulfilling his ambition of managing in the Premier League. “It is a real challenge,” he says. “The advice I always got was: ‘Don’t be a manager’ – with my old man having done what he’s done. But I don’t see it like that. I’m never going to be as good as my dad, that’s the bottom line. No one is. The actual success he had is a good thing because there’s no point comparing. There’s no comparisons.

“So I’m my own man. You have good periods, you have bad periods. You get sacked, is that enough to stop you going into the job again? No. It’s: ‘Right, where’s the next one?’ That’s how I feel. I’ve had over 500 games now, and it can test you. But I want to manage at a high level. I feel I should’ve managed in the Championship longer.”

Doncaster fans show their appreciation for Darren Ferguson. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/Getty Images

Ferguson’s CV suggests he has already earned the chance to be considered for a post in the top tier. “There may be an argument for that. My record shows I can develop players. The money Posh made [under him] was about £30m out of the players that went out. And promotions at any level are hard.”

Premier League opportunity, though, is not always given to managers from these shores. He says: “For British managers the pathway is if you get a club from the Championship into the Premier League like Sean’s [Dyche] done at Burnley. It’s extremely hard. Don’t get me wrong, the five or six top clubs in the country are managed by the six best managers in Europe. You can’t argue with that. [But] you want to be higher as a manager – the Premier League is where you’ve got be.”

Ferguson believes he can establish Doncaster in England’s second-highest division. “Certainly this season we’re looking to consolidate. But the following season you’re probably thinking you need to have a bit of a go at it,” he says.

As will his side against the might of Arsenal. “In one-off games, cup matches, there’s always a chance. That’s what I’ll be saying to the players. If we got the result it would be fantastic to give them belief going into the next game.

“For me, as a one-off game, it would be my best-ever result. To go and beat a Premier League team in their own backyard.

“They may play their big-hitters like Alexis Sánchez, Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Jack Wilshere. I would rather they did. As a manager and player you want to play against the best – absolutely 100%.”