Big Dunc just had to get away

Could have done so much more than he did.

Still thought he was great though.

In my humble opinion like!

I think he only ever realised about 60 to 70% of his true potential. A good guy though and a proper Evertonian.

I remember a few years later when I departed Liverpool for University and I would be continually defending him when all other football fans abused him and referred to him as a loon. Big Dunc was incredibly talented and those first few years when he was relatively injury free really showed what he was all about. You look at some of the goals he scored with his feet, at Old Trafford, Anfield and against the Shite @ Goodison, and you could see he could play. It wasn't just all about what he could do in the air. But, boy, what an absolute terror in the air. I'd love to have him up top alongside Jelavic now, with the wing play we've seen this season.

Derek( #617) was right in so much as he didn't realise his full potential. He didn't due to suspensions and a plague of injuries, but only the suspensions were his doing. I often felt sorry for him when he was struggling with injuries and you could sense the frustration when he was back and not fully fit (This often did lead to him losing his temper and getting suspended!). But, there is no doubting he was a SPECIAL Everton player and he'll be forever remembered fondly. I watched a 10 min montage of his goals posted on twitter earlier and I was smiling all the way through. I'd love him to become a successful manager, especially at Everton!

I said to the guy next to me after our striker bottled out of a 50/50 with James. "Duncan would have got that" The guy next to me said "If Duncan was playing, James wouldn't have come for it especially if he saw Duncan coming because he would have shit himself"

Fav Duncan goal v Man U from Arteta free kick.

Favourite was I think a perfect hattrick(?) against Bolton. And 2 - 2 Man Utd, OT. Plus any against Liverpool. Or any London team.

I remember the joke about Dunc walking down Matthew Street when he sees Babb and Ruddock walking towards him, he nods his head to say hello and those two fall to the ground clutching their faces.

For those lucky enough to have been old enough to truly appreciate our great teams of the past, up to the great team of the 80s I imagine he will always be a player who never lived up to his potential.

For those of us born in the 80s and were too young to really appreciate those teams and grew up with the team of the 90s he was a shining light, one of a few good things we could hold on to.

It was not easy being an Everton fan at school during that time, but with Big Dunc we always had a come back. NSNO.

I can't forget the silly sendings-off or the non-appearances against the so-called lesser sides. Getting up for it against the big sides does not constitute a legend in my eyes. Oh and I see no-none has mentioned his refusal to take a pen against Sunderland in the cup.

The Everton tattoo, the header against Man Utd, where everyone in the way was simply mown down, and stretching Steffen Freund's neck... total legend.

I'd love to meet the two pricks that tried to burgle him, I bet they retired from a life of crime after the pasting they got that night!

"Carl Bishop, 37, was apprehended by the Everton striker when he broke into his home in Formby, Merseyside.

The drug addict, from Walton, in Liverpool, required two days of hospital treatment following the incident and complained that he had been assaulted by Ferguson, but this was dismissed by police. "The incident happened very quickly and Mr Ferguson was very frightened" —Anthony Limont (prosecutor)."

Bollocks was he!

I recall that story very well and just remember thinking.... 2 guys have broke into a house and if it wasn't bad enough they were confronted with a 6'5" professional athlete, it was a fuming Big Dunc. I bet they didn't have time to blink before the first blow landed. Oops.....!

If all all football was played the argy-bargy Ferguson way (yeah, with a bit of skill thrown in once every blue moon) then I wouldn't bother with it.

Something majestic about his aerial play in his pomp that few have, and you have to appreciate that.

Players who play for us and move on, never feel the same again. The Royal Blue is something special, that's what Dunc reminds me of. May he live forever.

Read Pat van den Hauwe's book too ... This IS a special club - and Big Dunc is the personification of the spirit hat exists here. NSNO.

For the 2 guys concerned it was an 'Oh shit' moment, with a bit of Crocodile Dundee... 'this is a knife' and Jaws 'I think we need a bigger boat'.

The man was a Legend; legends aren't about facts, they're the whole vibe, not just stats. Yes he could be a lazy under-achieving arsehole but he was OURs — and we it seems, are His!

He made mistakes playing for us including some stupid sendings-off but the 90s would have been a whole lot darker without him. His goals gave me hope during watching him play alongside some really crap players. He scared the living daylights out of defenders and as offered above he also had two cracking feet and scored with those too.

If you cannot countenance Evertonians bleating "get real, we're not big", "we don't need to win trophies" "knife to a gunfight", surrender, he's your man.

The only regrets are injuries and not having a team to match his defiance and skill yet some complain he upped it for the RS and Man Utd. No he didn't; while others cowered he revelled in it.

Legend.

It would be a waste otherwise.

Kev, half of me agrees with you, he DID under-achieve with us, and could have been a great player and a true legend but for... what? Injuries? Attitude? Big game player? Probably all three.

But he came to Goodison when we NEEDED someone who could lift our spirits. The crowd certainly accepted him as one of our own and the affection with which he is remembered and which he obviously feels for Everton warms the heart.

A lot of the lads who regard Big Dunc as a Legend haven't got the memories to fall back on like some of us who can remember the true greats, the likes of Ball, Young, Labone, Kendall and Harvey etc., or later greats like Reid, Steven, Sharp and Gray who could deservedly carry that title with ease; so, maybe, we must allow him that status for those without the benefit of some great memories.

Exactly!

I think the whole "legend" thing is a puff of smoke, a modern cliche. Everything's "iconic" nowadays, everyone's a "legend". It's a joke. It means nothing.

Nevertheless, the Big Fella's heart was definitely in the right place – he was a true blue, no doubt about that, and he always gave 100%. (Not 110% – another modern cliche!). I genuinely appreciate that. I was probably a bit harsh, reacting against the wholesale adoration of him. I was just never a fan of his style of play, that's all.

Great place to live, btw: www.stirling.co.uk ;-)

COYB!

He seems regretful, frustrated.... a tad resentful.

Injuries never helped him, he was on the downside from roughly 28 for me and it got worse as he got older. I think the fire of his underachievement may help his coaching.

There was an interview in the Evertonian with his old Dundee Utd gaffer, Jim MacLean(?) who was basically saying that Ferg going into coaching really surprised him, he just didn't think that was the way he'd go. Any quote I've seen from anyone in football is basically really surprised the big stuff has stayed in the game. Remember an interview with Fergie and when asked what advice he would offer the a young Duncan, it would be "stay in more"!!

I reckon, personal view, that the Big Man would do things a little different if he had time over again; certainly didn't help himself.

I am of the opinion that he would pick and chose when to do it, it came a little easy to him really. He was a tremendous player, up until he was 27/28 he could go in behind as well. He wasn't pacey but he had a yard, great link into feet, he wasn't just the target man... we didn't help some of the stuff we played under Joe was awful. But, by the end, he was just the battering ram caricature people thought he was.

The Man Utd game when he netted that diving header from the free kick was his last great performance. I reckon he had a jab that night or it was adrenaline, he was doing things he couldn't do any more at 33/34. He gave Ferdinand murder. His link play was superb, he was running in behind and he was physical, aggressive and a nightmare to play. Led the line like a dream. I remember thinking during the game this is the last time we will see the real Duncan. Unfortunately, due to injuries and what I read as a flippant attitude, we didn't see it often enough.

He may well put the energy of underachievement into the coaching. You live and learn and it sounds like he's learning.

As a player he got nowhere near what he could have been. The two main elements in the equation there were his body and his mentality. Scratch the surface though and it may just make him a cracking coach. Crucially, it sounds like he wants to give more, the desire is there... Could be the case; it wasn't always there when he was playing for me.

Footballers are just people and there are all types of personalities in a dressing room. Fergie was the lazy underachiever. Sounds like he may regret it but, when you're 23 or so, most people don't have a clue what the fuck's going on.

The top players have the ability AND the attitude/mentality. Michael Owen for example. Cold as ice and level headed at 18/19. The Big Man was... somewhat different; he was a well paid headcase!! Sounds like he's grown up now.

Go 'ed Big Man, do it.

He was forever crocked and about as motivated as a Jamaican on payday. His reputation counted against him and defenders could almost mug him with impunity – he never received anything resembling a fair deal from the officials.

He was easily frustrated, and quite a few of the "daft sendings-off" were down to the officials' aforementioned bias and Dunc's low frustration threshold.

He never scored anywhere near often enough, was never consistently fit often enough (although that generally applied across the squad in those days – we used to have dreadful injury tolls year on year), and never disciplined enough. What might have been indeed... Dunc's tale is of completely unrealised potential.

My memory of him is when he elbowed Hitzlsberger off the ball, in a game versus Villa, which was not seen by the ref. In those days, players were not disciplined after the event to the degree they are now, so he got away with it.

He was far too undisciplined for my money and often let the team down by being sent off.

I wouldn't even put him in the top 5 Blues strikers I've seen, and I'm only 36.

But he was the reverse of his predecessor in the no 9 shirt, Tony Cottee.

Whereas TC scored his goals against the smaller sides, Ferguson saved his best performances for the top clubs.

But with his injuries,suspension, lack of motivation at times and the wrong type of service, he never really became the player he could well have been.

True Blue, no doubt though. I remember being up at Middlesboro when HE kissed a celebrating fan after equalising in a league cup game. It should be the other way round!

Despite being born in Norway and growing up "lightyears" away from my beloved Everton, I'm an avid and passionate follower of the club. Everton have been in my blood and under my skin since the mid 90s.

Duncan's immense passion for Everton, a club so far from his birth, was similar to mine and something I could really relate to. It's all down to, as Aidan points out, "Everton's inherent magic"

Duncans style of play and love for the club made an everlasting impression on me as a little kid, and for me too, Duncan Ferguson is someone who reminds me that Everton is special, like no other club.

"Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same" is such a true statement. It sums Everton up perfectly.

I'm an Everton fan first and a football fan second, and that's down to players like Neville Southall, Dave Watson and Duncan Ferguson playing with their hearts on their sleeves and showing me what Everton is all about. I will be forever greatful for this, and that is why, for me, Duncan Ferguson is a real legend.

Rarely has a player understood so instinctively what it mean to be an Evertonian. The dignity, the respect, the limitless skill, even the linguistic articulateness (see above) are all overlooked in favour of cheap media myths.

We are all waiting for you, Big Man - and we love you!

My hero was ,since I realized that those football, and rock-stars did not put dinner on my table, and my father did, so he became my hero. But next to Bob Latchford who made me start supporting this club... yes in every each way Big Dunc is a person you cannot avoid mention when it comes to big names, because, he might never give us the rate of goals, but he kept dragging away two or three defenders making room for his next man.... AND, he is the only player we ever had in modern days that could give us a reminder of good 'ol DIXIE!

Jelavic is troubled by defenders, witch make rooms for Fellaini and others, like big Dunc... so let the guys do their work. Amen.

For me Big Dunc is the biggest personality I've grown up with as an Evertonian. He will always be a legend to me!

No-one, in the time I've been an Evertonian, has raised the roof like Duncan did. And he did it when we were absolute shite.

Favourite goal – Leeds when Watson got a hat-trick. Think he got the 4th with a towering header over Roque Junior. Not an important goal but was a happy day and a cracking, textbook Dunc goal.

Anyway... later on the same night, two of my mates walked in the Chinese on Muirhead Ave and who's in there? Duncan... with a couple of local characters, shall we say. One of my mates spots him and shouts "Hey Duncan, that was fuckin' awful today," to which, the legend replied: "I done my bit didn't I? Anyway I don't give a fuck as long as my pigeons are alright."

So that's the talisman who's held in such high regard by our fans. Fucking shocking... and we all know what happened on the last day of the season, don't we? I think the phrase is "skin of our teeth".

Legend??? Don't make me retch. Remember, he got well paid for playing for Everton.

Would love to meet him one day and speak properly, as I think his enigma created due to the sheer lack of interviews, self-promotion and hyperbole of modern day footballers just added to his appeal. But I think he would have a few interesting tales to tell, and would be as passionate now about the club as I always felt he was when wearing the number 9 on it.

To me, a legend.

Clearly a passionate character which is probably why he is so adored and gets into trouble off the pitch.

The other thing that magnfies the legend of Big Dunc is that we did not have ANY consistently effective strikers (other than perhaps Kevin Campbell and briefly Rooney) between 1994 and the arrival of Yakubu in around 2006.

Give me Bob Latchford any day!

I remember that game vividly, the car journey home was the most depressing journey I can ever remember. Sheff Wed finished the season, 3 games later, 4 points above us and were also in the relegation mix with us and that home game was THE "must win" match of the season. We lost the next game 4-0 at Champions Arsenal and then had the 1-1 draw with Coventry when we stayed up on goal difference.

It was the season when people wrongly state that the "goal" against Bolton should have stood and Bolton would have stayed up and we should have been relegated. It is also forgotten that much maligned Michael Madar scored 4 goals in 5 games from March 14th onwards and helped us get wins against Blackburn and draws against Spurs (a) and Leicester (h) to keep us up. Horrible days.

All these people who think Duncan was a legend are clearly deluded because of your mate's story.

To class him as legend is perhaps to demean other Everton Legends which were in my time were players such as Young, Wilson and Ball. I put Ball alongside Georgie Best as the best player of that generation, absolutely brilliant, totally underrated and for many years influential in making us the best team to watch in English soccer. Duncan is a league or two behind that.

And he went too, to be replaced by the current manager, David Moyes. Who has his critics, but has kept Everton afloat with some hope. Lastly, big Dunc was probably more effective alongside Alan Shearer at Newcastle, but still could not win anything. And Newcastle are still potless after many years of trying.

But that's not the reason I don't rate Duncan, not at all... he just didn't do enough when we needed someone big to stand up. Admittededly he played in some shocking sides but, as Ray said, no-one mentions the much maligned Mick Madar whose goals probably kept us up in the end.

But, as they say, it's a game of opinions and life would be pretty boring if we all had the same one.

We had good players like Hinchcliffe, Parkinson, Kanchelskis, Speed, Campbell and the odd World Class one like Beardsley but Duncan arrived at a time when we needed a hero and he gave us one.

Injuries, Suspensions etc mean he isn't an Everton Great in the classic sense of Ball, Young or Southall but to the fans at the time he gave them hope when they had very little and at times was world class.

Plus he hated the Shite and they shat themselves every time he was on the pitch.

Most clubs would have loved to have him, I certainly did and am proud of him as a Blue.

And Bollocks to the #025 line about the pigeons — like he actually would have said that in a full restaurant!!!!!!!!!!!!

People point out "unfulfilled potential" but the obvious injuries/suspensions aside, remember he played mostly in fucking diabolical teams. I would love to see a fully fit Big Dunc in our team today, which is no doubt a huge improvement on those dark days.

Big Dunc highlights for me: being in awe when meeting him at the player lunches when I was 9 and 10 (and him being absolutely spot on), the header against Man Utd in '95, the header against Utd in '05 (the atmosphere that game was unbelievable), the numerous goals against the RS... And seeing him put Paul Scharner on his arse!