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Duncan Ferguson
Former
Player Profile
Duncan Ferguson, (born December 27, 1971 in Stirling, Scotland)
is a Scottish football player formerly of Everton F.C.
Ferguson began his footballing education at Carse Thistle before
being signed to Dundee United F.C. in 1990 on his first
professional contract. From that time he has played for Rangers
F.C., Everton and Newcastle United F.C.; his career often
punctuated by controversy and injury.
When not blighted by these mishaps, his strength and stature have
made him a potent target–man. These characteristics have
earned Ferguson a reputation as one of the most difficult players
to defend against in the English Premier League. This dominating
style and a poor disciplinary record has also seen him often
attract the ire of referees.
Ferguson is not considered a prolific goal–scorer, instead
he is valued for his capacity to hold the ball in defiance of
opposition players, permitting others to be brought into the
attack. This is coupled with an aerial prowess that is enhanced
by his uncommon height and an unusual level of skill for a man of
his size.
During his career, Ferguson
has won the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, competed in the UEFA
Champions League in 2005, also with Everton, and participated in
the UEFA Cup in 1999 with Newcastle and 2005 with Everton. He has
been capped for Scotland seven times but has since made himself
unavailable for selection in his national team due to a falling
out with the Scottish Football Association.
In late 1994, Everton were struggling under the stewardship of
Mike Walker and looking for options to reinvigorate their
faltering season. The solution enacted was to take two Rangers
players on a month long loan–deal by the names of Ian
Durrant and Duncan Ferguson.
The deal failed to secure
Walker’s tenure which saw the managerial role handed to Joe
Royle. Royle decided to let Durrant return north to Rangers but
elected to sign Ferguson permanently in a £4 million deal.
Once an Everton player proper, Ferguson contributed a goal in the
2–0 Merseyside derby victory at Goodison Park on 21 November
1994. The significance of the derby to Everton’s fans
ensured Ferguson’s popularity, which was then further
reinforced as the club worked their way out of relegation
contention.
Further plaudits were heaped upon Ferguson as he proved
instrumental in helping Everton progress to the semi–final
stage of the 1995 FA Cup. Despite recovering from an injury at
the time, he was given a substitute appearance in the final
against Manchester United F.C., a game that saw Everton
victorious and provided Ferguson with his only honour to date in
a 1–0 result.
The subsequent, 1995–96, season was less successful for
Ferguson. A persistent hernia problem was to see him unavailable
for large amounts of time. More difficult was his time spent in
Barlinnie prison as punishment for his earlier fracas with John
McStay. These events precluded Ferguson from developing a
potentially fruitful understanding with Andrei Kanchelskis.
From here, Ferguson
continued to be the focal point of Everton’s attack. In
1996–97 he helped maintain the club’s top–flight
status but also suffered another injury setback, this time
requiring surgery on his knee. Howard Kendall returned to manage
the club in 1997–98 and decided that season to reward
Ferguson with the captaincy of the team. It was during this
season that Ferguson removed himself from contention for the
Scottish national team.
After a poor 1997–98 season, Kendall made way for Walter
Smith, reuniting Ferguson with his Rangers manager. Smith
maintained the incumbent strategy of bypassing the midfield and,
instead, lofting the ball straight to Ferguson. This
one–dimensional approach was beginning to tire and results
were suffering as teams became more adept at containing
Ferguson’s game.
Irrespective,
Ferguson’s value had drastically increased since his arrival
at the club. This potential windfall was too tempting for Everton
chairman Peter Johnson to resist. Without the approval or
knowledge of Smith, Ferguson was sold to Newcastle for £8
million in 1998; the deal alleviated the financial pressure being
exerted on the club but the surreptitious nature of the
transaction caused extreme anger within the ranks of Everton
supporters and was a contributing factor in Johnson subsequently
stepping–down from the chairman’s position.
As Bill Kenwright took a controlling interest at Everton, the
club found themselves devoid of fit strikers. Kenwright’s
passionate support for the club, even prior to his ownership, was
displayed by his curious choice of bolstering an injured strike
force with a player who had been injured more often than not over
the previous two years and whose chief quality appeared to be
nostalgia. Despite this anomaly, Ferguson was re–signed to
Everton in 2000 by Walter Smith.
True to expectation,
Ferguson’s second game upon returning to Everton saw a
recurrence of his injury problems. Regardless, he managed to
participate in a reasonable thirteen matches in the 2000–01
season and provided a crucial six goals in that time. This was
enough to justify the return and once again keep Everton from the
ignominy of relegation.
That a player could find himself so besieged with injury was
baffling for all concerned and many efforts had been made at
diagnosis and long–term repair. The eventual discovery of
Ferguson’s compressed sciatic nerve brought a degree of
understanding to his inability to maintain fitness. Medical
suspicion was that Ferguson had been harbouring the condition for
the previous four years, undiagnosed, and that this would have
caused extreme discomfort and pain from simply running, much less
competitive football.
The next two seasons were largely anonymous for Ferguson with the
player battling to recover from his sciatica and rediscover his
best form. Now in his late twenties, age was beginning to play a
factor in Ferguson’s effectiveness. Once in his early
thirties and participating in the 2003–04 season, Ferguson
again started to add value to the Everton team but he was
eclipsed by the emergence of Wayne Rooney.
During 2004–05, manager David Moyes began to utilise
Ferguson effectively as a substitute. The striker’s
contribution from the bench was pivotal in Everton’s
campaign that season and his tally of five league goals lifted
Everton to a fourth–placed finish. Many of his late goals
altered match outcomes and led to a “super–sub”
mantle being applied to Ferguson. A particular highlight was his
match–winning goal against Manchester United, reminiscent of
ten years prior when Ferguson scored against the same team to
give Everton victory. The intervening period had seen Manchester
United unbeaten by Everton in the league.
The current 2005–06
season has been less fruitful for Ferguson with goals proving
elusive and frustration dominating his displays. This led to
Ferguson speculating on his own future, going so far as to
consider retiring mid–season due to his indifferent
performances. Moyes was successful in convincing Ferguson to
remain but the player has been used increasingly sporadically to
stave off injury and poor fitness.
The dubious notable of Ferguson’s 2005–06 season to
this point has been his sending off against Wigan Athletic F.C.
for violent conduct. His confrontation with Paul Scharner and
subsequent fracas with Pascal Chimbonda resulted in a total
match–ban of seven games and saw Ferguson’s Premier
League red–card count reach eight, equalling Patrick
Vieira’s ignoble record.
He scored a goal in the final match of the 2005/06 season in the
final minute against West Brom at Goodison Park following up his
penalty that was saved, this goal was his last for the club as he
was released at the end of the season, but this was a perfect way
to end his Everton career, and the perfect way for a legend to
sign off in style.
After the match all of the Everton fans stayed to watch Duncan do
a memorable walkaround the pitch, with the fans chanting his
name. He was regarded as a legend by most Everton supporters to
go with the likes of Dixie Dean and Brian Labone, verified by one
fan's gesture of running onto the pitch and kissing Ferguson on
the cheek and raising his arm in a victorious pose to the Gwladys
Street crowd.
It was confirmed a day later that that was his last game in an
Everton shirt.
In 2001, Ferguson was the victim of a burglary attempt by two men
at his then home in Rufford, Lancashire. Ferguson confronted the
pair and was able to detain one of them who subsequently spent
three days in hospital. The second man managed to flee but was
eventually caught. Both men were sentenced to fifteen months
imprisonment for their actions. Later because of their actions,
both men won an "Honorable Mention" from the Darwin
Awards.
Two years later, in early
2003, Ferguson again fell victim to a case of burglary. This time
there was only one intruder, Carl Bishop of Walton, Liverpool.
The crime took place in Ferguson’s Formby home and, again,
Ferguson elected to confront his intruder. He restrained Bishop
until police arrived and Bishop admitted intent to steal but
levelled accusations of assault against Ferguson which did not
eventuate into a criminal charge.
Ferguson has frequently found himself in trouble with the law.
This has led to four convictions for assault; two arising from
taxi–rank scuffles, one an altercation with a fisherman in
an Anstruther pub and the most infamous: his on–field
assualt of Raith Rovers defender John McStay in 1994 while
playing for Rangers.
For the indiscretion of head–butting McStay, Ferguson was
punished with a three month sentence in Barlinnie Prison of which
he served forty–four days in 1995 while contracted as an
Everton player. In addition, the Scottish FA imposed a
twelve–match playing ban on Ferguson which is widely
considered a primary factor in his decision to withdraw from
international football. Oddly, Ferguson played a further two
matches for Scotland after these events which would suggest that
his reasons are more complex than popular opinion is able to
account for.
In contrast to the Scottish FA, Everton were highly supportive of
the player. Ferguson’s manager, Joe Royle, visited him in
prison and the club argued successfully that any playing ban
imposed in Scotland was not enforceable in England, thus enabling
Ferguson to play immediately after his release.
Upon conclusion of his sentence he was feted onto the field of
play by both club and supporters. This created some sense of
anger as many observers believed that such actions condoned
Ferguson’s misdemeanours and were thus a poor reflection on
the club and game. Ferguson’s idols took the opposing view;
that the player had endured a highly unpleasant experience and
deserved support in his efforts to return to normality.
This episode of Ferguson’s life inspired the musical piece
Barlinnie Nine, composed by Osmo Tapio Räihälä. The name comes
about by way of Barlinnie prison and Ferguson’s shirt
number; nine. Of his work, Räihälä said: “I got the idea
for it when he was facing jail and had just become something of a
cult figure for Everton. It takes into account the contradictions
in him: he has an aggressive side but there is a lyrical
undertone to him, as the fact that he keeps pigeons shows.”
Barlinnie Nine was premiered on April 20, 2005 by the Finnish
Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Finlandia Hall, Helsinki. On this
same day Ferguson scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over
Manchester United at Goodison Park. It was the first time in ten
years that Everton had beaten Manchester United in a league
encounter and both matches were decided by a Ferguson goal. The
significance of this was not lost on Räihälä who said:
“There I was describing Duncan as a failure in Finland, and
thousands of miles away at Everton he rises like a phoenix from
the ashes to score against Manchester United. If there are gods
of football up there, this proves they have got a most twisted
sense of humour.”
