Liverpool FC Forum

by **Ciggy** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:44 pm

The good, the bad and the downright ugly of Big Dunc

Nicky Campbell
Friday May 19, 2006
The Guardian

It is 20 years from now and Theo Walcott has called time on a wonderful career for club and country. A gangly big guy in his mid-50s winces with sciatica and glances at the headlines in the papers he is using to muck out his precious pigeons. "Hero Theo Waves Goodbye". Does he feel indifferent or does his heart ache for what might have been?

Icon, hooligan, man of principle, shameless mercenary, tender bird lover, vicious thug, generous team-mate, waste of space - take your pick. Image wise some liken him to Lee Bowyer but without the charm, while to others he is an Everton legend. Duncan Ferguson doesn't speak to the "scum gutter press" so we are left to surmise from prejudices and infer from facts. Here are some. He has played his last game of professional football. Never again will he be out with injury and/or suspension. There will be no more fines to add to the quarter of a million pounds paid to Everton over the years and no more opportunities to reach double figures in a season. He managed that once, at Dundee United.

I was thrilled when he leapt on to the scene in the early 1990s because I thought a great striker had come our way at last. Then the flaws emerged as he manifested the hair-trigger temper that was his undoing. He seemed a man on the edge, like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, "You think I'm a funny guy?" He has attacked policemen, postmen, fishermen and a journeyman - when he head- butted Raith Rovers' John McStay on the field. The Scottish Football Association refused to let his match ban run concurrently with the prison sentence and Ferguson turned his dodgy back on the national team. But when you pull on that jersey you are not doing it for the benefit of some pissant panjandrum who may or may not have it in for you. You are doing it for kids with dreams.
Howard Kendall said: "We'll never know what he went through on that one" but a former international who played in the dark blue with Ferguson is contemptuous. "What're you writing about him for? Lining up in front of the anthem was the ultimate for me. Not for that imbecile." The estimable Craig Brown is more forgiving. "I like Duncan. He is a popular guy. A generous guy who will invite all the guys to play snooker in his house and buy all the drinks." He paused and added, "He is like Gascoigne maybe - too generous for his own good."

A former Everton team-mate, a model pro, took another view. "You wouldn't want to sit down and chat to him - put it that way. He is a lucky, lucky guy who got some big moves - a man who made an awful lot of money. He didn't like training, wouldn't prepare his body properly, didn't love football and just wasn't dedicated to it. He probably doesn't watch football." This player is scathing about the transfer to Newcastle. "[Ruud] Gullit must've done that deal in one of those Amsterdam coffee shops."

Brown is interesting on Ferguson's football ability. "He had terrific touch and aerial ability and superb game awareness. A real strength was peeling off round the back and finding himself unmarked." But he acknowledges Duncan was no natural goalscorer. "With Scotland he was supposed to be the cure to all our striking problems. In all the games he did play not only did he not score, we didn't score."

His former Goodison colleague is uncompromising. "He was a static footballer. He was good in the air and people say he was tough to play against but, if defences push out, you can't score a header from 20 yards. Not my cup of tea." Kendall thought differently. "Duncan was awesome in the air. I remember a goal at Arsenal when he just rose above Adams. Awesome. Without the suspensions, without the injuries - that's how it could have been."

And that is the nub of it. But why should millionaire Duncan Ferguson have any regret whatsoever in years to come as he caresses his champion pigeons? That requires a self-doubt he enviably lacks. Lucky, lucky guy.

Thank god this big feckin thug of a poor excuse of a footballer has retired.
Dont get me wrong the fella does a lot for Alder Hey but he done feck all for the footballing world I say good ridance, Legend my big fat @rse

by **greenred** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:39 am

Outside Woodison, you wont find too many people with a good word to say about Ferguson.As a player he's had nothing to offer for years now.Glad he's gone,he was a bit of a pr.ick.

by **Feeney** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:44 am

Envertonians have far bigger legends to look up to.....Dean, Reid, Watson, Southall - not some thug who has made a massive living out of a sport that he really didn't deserve.

£40K a week? Do me a favour........ I'd rather give that to 6 League 1 players who had the hunger and desire for it..... :buttrock

by **Dalglish** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:18 am

One of the most brave and honest articles I've read for some time ................... It's about time people realised what Duncan Ferguson i , nothing short of a thug who took football for a ride and reaped undeserved benefits !

Thankfully gone and hopefully quickly forgotten !

by **Lando_Griffin** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:09 am

Pity he didn't get the injuries he inflicted on others, the dirty c*nt.

He won't miss the game, the b*stard.

by **GOAT** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:53 pm

Fu.ckin tw@t, good riddance

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