It’s often said that football does not produce many characters these days. No one said that during Duncan Ferguson’s career. Big Dunc has been entertaining and enraging football fans for 35 years.
He found stardom early, joining Rangers in 1993 for a British transfer record fee, but playing for the club he had supported as a boy did not work out for Ferguson. Instead, he made his home south of the border at Everton, where he became a man mountain of a striker, a club legend and, briefly, a manager.
Ferguson, whose autobiography is out next week, had a brilliant career but there are still so many questions about what might have been. Why did it not work at Rangers? Does he regret not playing for Scotland more? Why was Everton the club for him? How does he feel about Goodison as it prepares to close its turnstiles for the last time? Did he enjoy playing for Ruud Gullit at Newcastle? Does he still want to be a manager? And has he kept eating vegan food after his time in charge at Forest Green Rovers?
