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Big Dunc: A few home truths

By Mark Hanson :  25/11/2010 :  Comments (51) :

So, first question, on the Duncan issue where do you stand ? friend or foe!

I?m a journalist so it was quite difficult to get to know Duncan. Interestingly, the first dealing I ever had with him was when he was on loan and we played Portsmouth away in a midweek cup game, where he made his Everton debut (October 1994). After the game, the team was staying in the hotel for the rest of the week as we had Southampton away on the Saturday.

A few of the players were in the hotel bar having a few drinks, including Duncan, and I joined them.  At that point, Duncan didn?t know I was a journalist so he was quite friendly!  He?d picked up an ankle injury that night and was sat back in a chair with ice strapped to his ankle while enjoying a few pints.  I asked him if he fancied staying at Goodison and he was adamant that he didn?t, it was just a loan spell and he was verrrrry much a Rangers player.

The other thing that stood out was Ian Snodin and David Burrows having a long-running banter session that got serious.  They were having a go at each other about their respective performances at Fratton Park that night but when Burrows expressed surprise that Snods had got anywhere near the England team, Snodin lamped him and there was a fist-fight!

Ferguson was reclined with a pint and his ankle in ice, looking for all the world like an emperor holding court, and not the least bit perturbed by his two team mates scrapping.

So you?re saying that Duncan took a while to get settled in at Goodison, not love at first sight?

Duncan is a complex character and I think he needs to be loved and appreciated.  I genuinely think that it was the reaction to his performance in the 2-0 derby win (November 1994) and the way the fans took to him that made him think there could be something special for him here.  I think it was that that made him want to sign for the club on a permanent basis.

OK, what?s your take on his relationship with the various Everton mangers, three of them made him captain?

Howard Kendall ? There was a real mutual admiration.  Kendall is a renowned man-manager and knew which buttons to press to get Duncan going? I guess the fact that both are quite social, very different to David Moyes, might help.  It?s fair to say that Duncan played through the pain barrier to keep Everton up in the 97-98 season, playing for the fans and playing for Kendall.  It?s interesting that I?ve seen Joe Royle telling a few anecdotes at sporting dinners where he teases Duncan?s sometimes lax approach in games and I always note Howard making faces as if to show real disagreement.

Walter Smith ? I think there was mutual respect.  Walter was genuinely shocked at Duncan being sold to Newcastle.  This had been rumbling for a couple of weeks and I first noticed that during a game against Forest away a couple of weeks earlier (September 1998), when Duncan scored two goals, he seemed to be making goodbye gestures to the fans.  It seems as though Peter Johnson?s anxiety about the financial health of the club had prompted him to hawk Ferguson to other clubs and Duncan was less than happy.

The next thing is Walter Smith, Archie Knox plus wives are walking down the steps from the players? lounge after the Newcastle game in November 1998 (when Duncan was sold) to be greeted by Duncan asking ?Why didn?t you stand up for me, boss??  Smith and Knox expressed shock and surprise and asked him if he?d actually signed anything, Duncan said no but he?d shaken hands on it.

The first I knew was when I was getting text from fans after the game.  I was actually in a pub in Formby with David Unsworth at the time and he was as shocked as anyone!  The next day in the office, Lorraine Rogers aka Mrs Peter Johnson, called to insist that Walter Smith was fully aware of the Duncan sale.  I can tell you that, when I put this to Walter, he was incandescent and wouldn?t let me leave until I?d heard him talk on speaker-phone to Johnson and get him to confirm his version of events.  His rage told me I didn?t need to hear Johnson speak!

Walter was happy to have him back for his second spell, although I think Bill Kenwright and all his big-hearted romantic approach to the game played a big part as well.

David Moyes ? I?d say there was mutual suspicion here.  Moyes has a version of a player and Duncan, for his fitness and attitudinal issues, isn?t it, but the size of his contract meant he had to face up to using him in the best way possible.  There was obviously the big training ground bust-up.  One Everton player was in the toilet at the time, which is above Moyes's office.  He could hear the banging and shouting going on, when Duncan emerged he shouted that he?d told the boss ?a few home truths?...

What?s your take on Duncan?s fitness issues and his willingness to go through the pain barrier?

Duncan had a supreme physique, a real good trainer who spent a lot of time in the gym boxing, doing weights.  I?m told he still works out every day.  A lot of the players would say that he was one of the ones who could run and run in pre-season ? a natural athlete.

The problem was that he picked up a lot of injuries by the way he played and that meant he was on the rough end of some tough tackling.  I remember the challenge by Charlton?s Richard Rufus on his second Goodison debut (August 2000) as particularly dreadful.  Those things catch up with you when you get older.  I think you can see his bad tempered and aggressive approach on the field actually gets worse later in his career as his body starts to slow him down and stop him performing the way he wants.

So, can we solve the conundrum of why a guy with such pride and a close bond with the fans didn?t achieve the consistency of a great player?

I agree it?s shame. I remember one of his team mates saying exactly that to me after a goal Ferguson had scored in a derby game.

He certainly had plenty of self-confidence.  I remember Daniel Amokachi struggling in training and Duncan saying, ?Hey, watch me, I?ll turn you into a £4M player!? and the time when Alan Shearer made his debut for Newcastle at Goodison as a £15M player, Duncan went around Bellefield all week breathing fire and singing ?Shearer?s gonna get it? to himself, which resulted in an absolutely awesome performance.

But there are stories like the time that Joe Royle tried to show him some videos of Christian Vieri?s movement and approach ? and Duncan looking totally into space?

I guess the drinking didn?t help?

I wouldn?t say that Duncan was a problem drinker, more of a binger than a daily drinker, like, say Gazza.  I think even before the drink-driving arrest, 36 hours before the 2-0 derby win, he?d only had about three pints ? yeah, over the limit but not steaming.

And what on earth did those burglars think they were doing??

The first one was after a cup game at Watford.  I was out in town being harangued by a group of Evertonians who were insisting that Duncan had a cocaine habit and was actually refused hospital treatment for an injury because of the amount of coke in his system.  They were accusing me (and the press generally) of a cover-up.

They were so assertive that I put this to Walter Smith on the Monday.  He laughed and told me that Duncan was THE most drug tested player at the club and had never come out positive... although alcohol content was a different matter.  It was while in his office that Duncan came in to see Walter, hiding one side of his face, and then became clear he?d suffered this in the struggle.

Second time the break-in took place in an outhouse-type building on his property that was used for storage.  It was the burglar?s bad luck that Duncan happened to be in the building at the time. The ensuing struggle left the burglar substantially worse off and I remember that Mrs Ferguson was very upset when the guy tried to bring a case against Duncan for excessive force, fearing that Duncan?s past record would count against him.

Do you think he misses us?

I don?t think Duncan will go back to Goodison while Moyes is in charge but I think he generally isn?t interested in coming back to England/Goodison.  In fact he?s actually moved house over in Mallorca to be in an even more remote part of the island.

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