My First Love with Everton

Ah... the Viking spirit lives on in Stavanger!

Hit that Fowler rat face... headbutting eachother for fun...

I knew there was a cultural twist somewhere here with our Jimmy: perhaps this antithesis to "The School of Science" helps to explain some obvious differences...

hahaha brilliant Jimmy! funniest post for a while.

After posting this Jimmy went to the woods and beat up a couple of bears. He is now officially my hero.

We are all glad to have you on board Jimmy.

I do however wonder if all that headbutting might account for the content of some of your posts.

I came because of Andrei Kanchelskis, but I stayed because of Dunc. (Andrei's son works in my brother's bar, so i'm hoping to meet his dad)

Great post Jimmy, I am also a massive Big Dunc fan.He was my hero in school and there is not a week that goes by where I do not watch one of the many videos on Youtube.

There was about 800 lads in my school,and I can only recall there been 3 Everton fans out of that bunch, so u can imagine how tough I got it.

I can still remember the big man getting winners against Liverpool and Man United, and will go down as some of the best memories from my youth.

Big Dunc = Legend.

Pure coincidence I suppose but reading this put me in mind of an article about lunacy and suicide rates in Scandanavian countries.

Quite a phenomena by all accounts.

Why am I not in the least surprised that jimmy Sorheim turned to EFC because of a head-but and that - curious image this - he goes into the woods to head-but for fun?

"Because he roughed up those ugly reds in a way that was pleasing to my soul"

Wonderful stuff

Ok thats enough about big Dunc who incidently was another of my idols now after titillating our more lasvicious senses please enlighten us a bit more about that angelic true beauty in the pizza shop. Did you score or flatten her with a Liverpool kiss.

So, Big Dunc is his hero, where does old Royston fit into this?

Michael, Lyndon, I thought I was joking but can now see that running this site has sent you over the edge. Your creation is turning into a monster, I assume this is your nod to Halloween?

I (think I) can relate to Jimmy's affinity for a passionate player like big Dunc, and it is certainly that bit more inspiring when the player wears his heart on his sleeve, but I am a little surprised he does not credit more of our current players with having the right attitude.

They might not be as physically devastating as the big man could be (nor as vibrantly maverick as Royston Drenthe) but I think we have a good core of players who do not shirk their responsibilities each time they step onto the pitch. Unfortunately, not all of them belong to us but that shouldn't lessen the appreciation of what they are prepared to give when wearing our shirt.

Good post Jimmy.
I think for me Timmy Cahill deserves to be held in the same esteem.
Totally loyal right to the day the Club told him to leave and a player that gave it to the Red Shite in bucket loads. Not to mention he scored plenty of crucial goals for us and gave his all every time he pulled on a Blue Shirt.

Big Dunc was never a great striker, he never really scored great goals (on a regular basis) and his strike rate isn't great to any statistician. What he did have though is a fire inside, a fire unmatched by any of his opponents. Although he bears the Everton tattoo he set upon them gladiatorally, mono-et-mono, in a 'you're messing with the wrong guy and, by the way, you're out of your depth' kind of way. At a time when the blues were mediocre, in fact, the most mediocre in my lifetime, we couldn't offer any real football arguments to say we were better than the shite, or those teams that were gloriously above them, but what we could counter with was that we had the hardest player in the football league. Yes, it's childish, yes, it's clutching at a McDonald's quality straw, but at that time it was all we had. The images of him tearing up Old Trafford, wrestling big bad Sol Campbell to the ground nonchalantly in front of the the Gwladys Street, throwing karate black belt Zenden into the Middlesbrough net, the reassuring fist-clenching rage delivered in derbies and not to forget that sweetest of moments when he enveloped Steffen Freund with the death-grip that you could clearly see in the Germans eyes that he felt his time on this planet had come to a terrifying end.

The legend of Duncan Ferguson isn't the quality of player he was, but the quality of his contribution; his fire, his resolve, his dedication. He can't stand toe to toe with the true greats of our club in his output, but that's not through any lack of his desire; some people are more blessed than others with true skill, although to be fair to the big guy, I don't think I've ever seen a player more singled out by referees for fouls called on name alone. He gave everything he got for the cause and that's what people appreciate. You can call out your Alan Balls, your Howard Kendalls, your Neville Southalls, your Dave Watsons and your Tim Cahills. I don't think any of them would ever say when they crossed that line they gave more for the blue shirt.

And if any burglars are reading, make sure you check out the properties owner first. No matter how many of you there are.

I'm with Michael Kenrick's School of Science on this one. If the likes of Ferguson really wanted to see if they were hard men, they should have tried a different game and seen how they stood up to the likes Adrian Morley, Martin Johnson, Wayne Shelford, et. al.

Ferguson, I was there that night, Big Joe's 1st game, the derby, the corner, that header, a 2nd win in that season and the leaves were falling from the trees.

I have mixed feelings about Ferguson. He is no EFC legend to me but I do understand how he might be to people whose 1st games were in the '90s. Not a legend at all. Poor scoring rate. Not much work rate off the ball. Hoofball. GET IT UP TO FERGUSON.

It so happened that Dunc's Old Lady days - '95 final aside - coincided with jeez some dreadful dog days and in this context someone like Dunc with bottle, attitude, EFC tattoo, was always going to stand out. He is no EFC great/legend but he did symbolize something strong to hold onto in a dank age. '

Let's not forget we were crying out for a hero back then and Dunc was the best we had symbolizing what we as a team were not - strong, savvy, the streets.

I well remember as I did not miss a single home or away game from 1 jan 1990 to 31 december 1999 a fair amount of discontent about Ferguson and his work effort but the second we got a corner our hearts lifted,

Everton in the 1990s had weird folk heroes in some respects - Farrelly, Horne, Rideout, Amokachi. It was dogs of war final aside some dire times. The really great '90s games for me were Wimbledon and Coventry, and in those impoverished times when the land seemed barren hyper Dunc fitted the bill .....

It's what we had.

Doesn't mean he wasn't special in a time that was not special but legend - in my lifetime Bobby Latchford was a bigger legend and we haven't yet scratched the surface of Young, Labone, Hickson, Ball, and yes my beloved Sheeds and others I haven't mentioned God bless 'em.

Head-but, fuck, kocking the shit out of a copper, pummelling an opponent, all Sorheim plus points, but Everton legend, no way.

I think nostalgia paints a pretty picture of Ferguson. If you only saw his Everton career highlights, you would think he was an absolute legend. But how many times did he look disinterested? How many times was he injured, or get himself sent off? As others have said, his scoring rate wasn't the best either.

In the words of an Everton legend who I saw at a question & answer session, he never played with a player who gave less than 100% for Everton, except one - Ferguson, who apparently never left the centre circle in an away game at Middlesborough.

I'd say Ferguson had one great game in ten, on average, probably 4 decent ones, then five poor games. He might be a legend to some, because he squared up to a few people, chinned a few others, etc, but not for me.

It all started with Dave Hickson for me. My family were all reds, and I was seven years old, but we went to both grounds regularly, my first ever game had actually been to Anfield to see Stanley Matthews and Liverpool won 5-2! Anyhow I was taken soon after to see Everton play Plymouth Argyle and we won 8-4 and the blonde centre forward scored a couple of goals, I think John -Wilie Parker scored three or four, but it was Hickson who captured my imagination. Everton got promoted, Liverpool got relegated that season and I was a blue to my family's amusement at first, but horror later when they realised it was permanent. Selling Hickson twice, the second time to Liverpool , were moments in my childhood when the tears fell.
Incidentally, I'm still waiting for another twelve goal thriller, for hundred odd games later though I did see an eleven when we played Cardiff in the early 60s, I'm hoping to get to the Stoke game, it's now a three hundred mile trip, and perhaps I'll see them score ten or more.
The love-affair feeds on eternal hope.

I have to agree – Ferguson is no legend. Look at Lee Carsley for an example: true pro gave 100% every game... the most underated player at Everton ever.

For me, a true Legend is Kevin Campbell, saved our bacon and a model pro.

"In the words of an Everton legend who I saw at a question & answer session, he never played with a player who gave less than 100% for Everton, except one - Ferguson". Well it's an extremely narrow field of possible candidates for this interesting quote. Said legend has forgotten the games when Graeme Sharp didn't fancy it, or Kevin Sheedy come to that. All great players in my opinion who had their off days, Ferguson's career just happened to coincide with a dreadful era of poor Everton players and management.

Trouble is Ian @207.....I'm not sure he actually meant it to be funny.....head butting each other for fun? Bizarre. Maybe it's those long dark winters.

Everyone from Stirling is like Duncan. Maybe it's a character trait from the days when William Wallace was the local role model who the kids looked up to :-) Nowadays, it's a nightmare for an average height person from England to cope with.

Example:- Attitude to Halloween.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEncE4uZiqg

"I met an angel, and a true beauty in my local pizza shop today"

Was that Brett Angell? You've got a penchant for big burly centre forwards Jimmy, what with your love for Big Dunc as well. ;-)

Should have followed Ricky Hatton instead. Everton fans have always thrived on skilful flowing football, not Kendo Nagasaki's or Mike Tysons; though you probably got excited when Sly turned up v Reading

I thought we thrived on big powerful forwards who were most effective in the air like Dean and Lawton? Ferguson seems like a lesser but similar style of player to those two.

I like the early feedback, and I love how Darren just grasped the soul out of it like that, not to mention Michael's "Ah, the Viking spirit lives on in Stavanger"

By the way Jim Burns, Ian Tunstead was right, it was meant to be funny because it was a funny memory, don't be such a killjoy. :-)

For me back in those days I was really intense and hated Fowler with a vengance, I remember him sniffing that line and the hatred caused me to foam out of my mouth while screaming. I really cheered for Duncan to hurt this ugly-faced rat and, after he did that sniffing celebration, I celebrated each knock he got like a victory.

Also, I remember Scholes getting that nasty elbow like yesterday, not to mention Robbie Savage and the choke-hold Dunc had on him. I really think Duncan could have been even greater had it not been for all his injuries, but I do not care one bit how many goals he scored in total: to me, he was the greatest captain ever. And those wins he helped get against the Reds and Mancs live on in my memory with great joy.

I so long for a new legend like that; Lukaku could learn a few things from Ferguson in training for sure, like his passion and love for Everton.

Regarding the girl I met, I was too stunned to do anything right there and then. Think it would be dangerous to kiss her at this staqe because I might faint on her afterwards... I mean her overall beauty was one thing, but her face and those sparkly diamond blue eyes, that is the closest I have gotten to a true angel of the Lord!

Ian Tunstead, that was the 1920s/30s, Straq was proof that football has changed since then