Duncan Ferguson - Everton Legend

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The Big Dunc Story...Everton

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, Ian Durrant and 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.

While still on loan, 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 caused him to be unavailable for large amounts of time. He also 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 caused results to suffer as teams became more adept at containing Ferguson's game.

Irrespective, Ferguson's value had drastically increased since his arrival at the club, and without the approval or knowledge of Smith, Everton chairman Peter Johnson sold Ferguson to Newcastle for £7 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.

Ferguson's second game upon returning to Everton saw a recurrence of his injury problems. Regardless, he managed to participate in 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 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 2005–06 season saw Ferguson regain the number 9 shirt - the number he has tattooed inside the Everton crest on his left upper arm. However, the 2005-2006 season was somewhat 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 was used only sporadically.

The dubious notable of Ferguson's 2005–06 season was 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 record.

On May 7 , 2006 , against West Bromwich Albion F.C. and at Goodison Park, Ferguson was named as captain in the game that marked the end of his Everton career. His 90th minute penalty kick was saved by Tomasz Kuszczak , but he subsequently scored from the rebound, netting his final goal for the club.

Duncan still has his season tickets in the Main Stand at Goodison Park, but has only used them once this season, at a pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao - but watching as nothing more than a spectator was too much to bear, and Duncan vowed to return after a year to watch the club, although it will never be easy for him to simply watch from the sidelines.

 

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