Duncan Ferguson breaks his silence about THAT headbutt, serving prison time, rows with management figures and his descent towards bankruptcy in a revealing autobiography reviewed by Eric Brown…
BY ERIC BROWN
There’s really no escaping the conclusion that Duncan Ferguson was a journalist’s nightmare.
The lighthouse striker frustrated sportswriters, especially those from Glasgow, Merseyside and Newcastle, by turning down more interview requests than Greta Garbo. In his autobiography, he explains why he hated the press and hints at what those missing interviews might have disclosed.
The book is packed with regrets over decisions Ferguson made hastily and in error as his life hurtled into a financial abyss, leading eventually to bankruptcy. His story shows the hardest, toughest players may outwit opponents, but they cannot resist attention from tax inspectors and debtors.
The former Dundee United, Glasgow Rangers, Everton, Newcastle and Scotland striker shunned publicity. Words of Ferguson wisdom could generally be found only in club publications such as programmes or magazines.
Even after he agreed to an interview with the Liverpool evening paper, he failed to turn up for a meeting with their reporter two days after being sent off while playing for Everton.
Now, though, he’s opened up on his tempestuous life on and off the pitch in this no-holds-barred autobiography, lifting the lid for the first time on the incident that catapulted him from back pages to front pages.
When Ferguson ran out to play for Rangers against Raith Rovers on 16 April 1994, he could not have known how his actions that day would send shockwaves reverberating around the football world.
Ferguson’s headbutt sent Rovers’ John McStay reeling and eventually led to a custodial sentence in Glasgow’s most notorious prison. Ferguson had been at Rangers nine months and was anxious to end a 700-minute goal drought against Raith. He did so with a second-half goal in a 4-0 win.
Duncan Ferguson headbutting John McStay in 1994. pic.twitter.com/zSk411uAqW
— 90s Football (@90sfootball) March 24, 2018
Yet it was the butt which captured headlines and set Ferguson on the path to Barlinnie jail. Ferguson has never spoken about the incident, but in the book insists: “It was only a wee tussle for the ball. He squared up and moved towards me. I reciprocated and put my head into his face. I lunged at him and connected but with no force. His teeth weren’t rattled, he had no black eyes, no swelling or blood visible beyond a nick on his upper lip. I just lowered my head towards him. That was all. There was minimal contact.”
He points out referee Kenny Clark took no action. This is perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the clash that led to a British footballer being jailed for an on-pitch incident for the first time. He asks, with some justification, how a confrontation rated unworthy of even a yellow card could lead to jail time.
He is still clearly haunted by this conundrum and casts around for someone to blame. The press, the Scottish FA and sheriff Andrew Normand all come in for criticism.
Ferguson stayed silent but after the game, McStay denied diving when questioned by reporters, so the headlines were: “Ferguson butted me.”
He says: “I was raging with the press. There were 42,545 witnesses in the stands and 200 police, yet nobody complained. I’m convinced the Glasgow press had a campaign to push this as far as they could. They stitched me up.
“Because I had a few assaults against me when I was younger, and because of my record fee to Rangers, it was a big story. Everyone knew I was on probation, and my next brush with the law would result in my going inside.”
Sure enough, a week later, Glasgow police informed Rangers they wanted to interview Ferguson about assault. He adds: “Quite why Sheriff Andrew Normand, The Procurator Fiscal in Glasgow, deemed an incident on a football pitch which did not even register a caution to be a matter for the judiciary remains a mystery.”
Ferguson, by now an Everton player. was sentenced to three months in prison, and his warts-and-all description of life among violent criminals in grim Barlinnie is one of the highlights, or should that be lowlights, of the book.
It allowed plenty of time for his hostility towards the Scottish FA to fester. He blamed them for undermining his court case by imposing a 12-match ban and continuing to push for it.
“Rather than rally round and support a young player during the most challenging time of his life, the SFA twisted the knife. I was bitter and wanted nothing more to do with the SFA.”
At a judicial review, it was found the SFA acted outside their powers and the remaining seven matches of the ban were squashed. Ferguson found it difficult to forgive the governing body and subsequently refused to play for Scotland. He now regrets not burying the hatchet.
Ferguson began clashing with authority at Dundee United when a series of bitter disputes with manager Jim McLean earned several fines. In one month, his fines were so numerous that when his paycheck arrived, it showed he actually owed the club money!
He reveals the inside stories of further managerial clashes at Rangers, Everton and Newcastle, plus cup final glories and brushes with the Merseyside underworld in a remarkably frank autobiography compiled by Henry Winter, who succeeds where many journalist colleagues failed.
The previously silent Ferguson now admits doling out huge amounts of largesse to club apprentices and spongers may have contributed ultimately to his bankruptcy. He reveals the failed business ventures too, and confesses to a large chunk of naivety. He could have been more careful about the company he kept.
Ferguson claims to have been astonished when his best friend of nine years went on the run from police pursuing drug charges against him. Not only was his pal banged up for seven years for drug offences, he says he learned many other Merseyside friends had been members of a notorious local gang only when he watched a “Panorama” TV exposé.
This is mainly a tale of what should have been from a man constantly confronted with bar challenges from those eager to prove themselves tougher and harder, a man who signed for Everton wearing a red jacket and failed to speak to his father and one of his sisters for a decade. At Newcastle, he bonded perfectly with Alan Shearer on the pitch but fell out famously with boss Ruud Gullit.
Yes, Duncan Ferguson really could have used his “hid” much more effectively.
Henry Winter’s ability to tease so many intriguing stories out of a man notorious for avoiding sportswriters has produced an entertaining and informative read.
“BIG DUNC: The Upfront Autobiography” with Henry Winter is published by Century, price £22.
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