Big Yin or Big Sleep?

A voluntary contribution from Everton fan, Ben Fardey,
who is not too impressed with Duncan Ferguson

So yet again the Big Man has let me down.  Why am I not surprised?

What?  An Evertonian slagging off Duncan Ferguson?  Surely not.  But before I'm bombarded with hate mail, lets consider some facts.

First off, let me say that I agree that both Duncan and Super Kev are being given absolutely no service at the moment.  This is of course, not their fault.  Let me also say that during his first spell with the club, or at least during his first year or so, he was my hero just like he was to everyone else.

However, what continually baffles me is the constant barracking of Super Kev for being lazy and 'fat arsed'.  Now, I'm not saying Campbell's the most hard-working forward around or anything but at least he looks interested, makes some clever some runs and shows some passion.  Throughout the whole 90 minutes against Liverpool on Saturday, Ferguson hardly moved!  

I was talking to a Gladwys Street Season Ticket holder in the bogs at the Blue Angel on Saturday night and he was slagging off Campbell with the usual misguided accusations of laziness.  The ToffeeWeb site had a poll as to who should make way for Radzinski when he's fit.  Something like 51% said Campbell, 32% said neither, and only about 17% said Ferguson.  I find it staggering.  

Campbell has so much more upstairs than Ferguson.  The lad I met in the bogs slagged off Campbell for missing those 2 chances saying that Ferguson would have buried them.  The truth is that Ferguson has never been a natural goal-scorer whereas Campbell has made a career out of being sharp in the box and making clever runs (as opposed to being a lazy great lamp-post) so not only would Duncan not have scored those chances, they would never have fallen to him in the first place because he's about as mobile as my Grandad's Austin Allegro!  

Look at this seasons tallies.  Ferguson's got 3 penalties (2 presented to him thanks to fouls on Campbell where he looked odds on to score!) whereas Campbell has scored 3 goals from open-play.

A good deal of Evertonians (astonishingly including those that actually go to the match and witness how immobile and utterly uninterested Ferguson is) seem to have a blind spot as far as Duncan is concerned.  They still see him as some sort of hero: a status he has neither earned nor deserves.  He owes the club (not to mention the fans) a great deal, not only for taking a chance and bringing him back but also for their support during his first injury-hit (not to mention prison-hit) spell at the club.

It is widely agreed that Duncan is only ever up for big-games (something I failed to witness at either of our last 2 league games which I'm sure all fans would agree certainly qualify).  This is unacceptable.  The guy can kiss his badge as much as he likes after scoring penalties that his more deserving colleague Campbell has earned, but if he isn't going to show the passion for the shirt that his actions and his tattoo suggest he should, he should fuck off, stop wasting our time and make way for the less predictable skills of Mr Radzinski.

Passion is something that is easily faked when you're winning.  I said to my missus in injury time at Old Trafford that even though Duncan was the furthest of the 22 players to the tunnel, he'd be first down it and so he was!  It was left to Campbell to come over and show his appreciation for the travelling support.  Something he did assisted only by Scot Gemmill. Steve Watson and Rhino (who deserves special praise for his loyalty to the fans after the treatment he endured from the home crowd against Ipswich last season).  By the way, incase you didn't notice, he was first down the tunnel after the derby as well.

So, if you are one of the misguided Evertonian masses that cheer his name wildly when it is over-enthusiastically announced before kick-off, or applaud rapturously when he manages to actually control a ball and find a member of his own team, I urge you to borrow a video of the derby from one of your kopite mates and look at how much running and chasing back he does.  Service or no service, its times like Saturday, when the chips are down, that players are required to 'dig in'.  If you spot him make a tackle in the second half, please email me the minute it occurred as I must have missed it.

Duncan?  Call Y'Self an Evertonian?  Time to prove it lad.

Ben Fardey