Duncan Ferguson & Regret...

[Rich NATA]

A long time coming, but...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64570643

 

 

[scotlad]

I can understand him being pissed off with the SFA at the time but him refusing to play for Scotland was a classic example of someone cutting his nose off to spite his face. He missed out on a World Cup because of it.

[Och Aye]

Hope young player read this and take note. Imagine missing out on these honours, what a regret.

[dan cake]

Shame he doesn’t have any regrets regarding assaulting people and I’m not talking about burglars or McStay

[Ally Bongo]

Nobody won

Doesn't exactly make the case for the SFA being biased towards Rangers though

[Daz1982]

Always think he could have made the difference against England at Euro 96 and against them in the 99 play-off games.

[Ally Bongo]

20 minutes ago, Daz1982 said:

Always think he could have made the difference against England at Euro 96 and against them in the 99 play-off games.

He was available for selection at EURO 1996

His last Scotland cap was 1997

The problem with big Dunc was that apart from the game against Germany at Ibrox he didn't set the World alight in his 7 caps in 5 years.

A lot of this was down to the refereeing standards at the time. They hated combatant aerial challenges and he was constantly being penalised in the role he was given

Edited February 8, 2023 by Ally Bongo

[mccaughey85]

7 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

He was available for selection at EURO 1996

His last Scotland cap was 1997

The problem with big Dunc was that apart from the game against Germany at Ibrox he didn't set the World alight in his 7 caps in 5 years.

A lot of this was down to the refereeing standards at the time. They hated combatant aerial challenges and he was constantly being penalised in the role he was given

Ppl seem to think he would have made a massive difference to scotland but he wasnt that good. Kevin gallacher deserved his spot upfront for scotland in world cup 98 as he was on fire that season. Saying that its still a shame as he would have been a useful player to have in the squads in the late 90s and early noughties. Must be gutting for him as playing for your country in the opening game of a world cup against brazil is the stuff of dreams. 

Out of interest why didnt he play at euro 96? 

[mccaughey85]

Heres a link to the full interview.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0f1fx3n

Its pretty embarrassing listening to both of them at times. If you never knew the history you would think duncan ferguson was some kind of wrongfully imprisoned political prisoner who was being persecuted.  

Saying that i dont know the full story behind his previous assaults leading up to the mcstay headbutt so maybe he was harshly treated. 

Maybe some ppl on here might enlighten us about the whole situation and wether dunc was treated unfairly.

Going by the interview Bellew just loves ferguson and would make excuses regardless of what ferguson had done.

[ProudScot]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Ppl seem to think he would have made a massive difference to scotland but he wasnt that good. Kevin gallacher deserved his spot upfront for scotland in world cup 98 as he was on fire that season. Saying that its still a shame as he would have been a useful player to have in the squads in the late 90s and early noughties. Must be gutting for him as playing for your country in the opening game of a world cup against brazil is the stuff of dreams. 

Out of interest why didnt he play at euro 96? 

Anyone who remembers the Kevin Kyle, Stevie Crawford, Paul Dickov & Steven Thompson years would dispute he wouldn’t have made a difference. 

 

[ProudScot]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Ppl seem to think he would have made a massive difference to scotland but he wasnt that good. Kevin gallacher deserved his spot upfront for scotland in world cup 98 as he was on fire that season. Saying that its still a shame as he would have been a useful player to have in the squads in the late 90s and early noughties. Must be gutting for him as playing for your country in the opening game of a world cup against brazil is the stuff of dreams. 

Out of interest why didnt he play at euro 96? 

Should have added he was going to be in the squad for Euro 1996 but had to withdraw to get a hernia operation 

[wanderer]

I think for years he went on the poor advice of his lawyers, whose whole case was built around that the McStay incident was a SFA matter, and should remain such, but the issue that everyone forgets is that he was already on a suspended sentence for beating up a police man while on a night out, and as far as the courts decided, he broke the conditions of his suspended sentence live on camera.

Regarding Scotland, I think Brown and Roxburgh just did not know how to use him.... Pat Nevin tells a story that in training as soon as Brown called "lump it up to Duncan" you could see all the life being sucked out of Fergusons eyes.

Always felt had Vogts been able to get him back we would have seen the best of him in a Scotland shirt.

[wanderer]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Out of interest why didnt he play at euro 96? 

Rumors are he pulled out of a friendly against Australia at Hampden, which Brown did not take well, but story is he just was not fit enough as he missed the majority of season 95-96 through his prison sentence and a injury.

[wanderer]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Heres a link to the full interview.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0f1fx3n

Its pretty embarrassing listening to both of them at times. If you never knew the history you would think duncan ferguson was some kind of wrongfully imprisoned political prisoner who was being persecuted.  

Saying that i dont know the full story behind his previous assaults leading up to the mcstay headbutt so maybe he was harshly treated. 

Maybe some ppl on here might enlighten us about the whole situation and wether dunc was treated unfairly.

Going by the interview Bellew just loves ferguson and would make excuses regardless of what ferguson had done.

Basically he was poorly advised by his lawyers... Donald Findlay refused to take the case on (claiming conflict of interests at the times, but truth is he had seen enough of these cases to know that he was going down) but advised his lawyers to build their whole case that due to the fact it was a on the football field incident it falls under a internal SFA matter and should not be treated the same as a incident on Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night.....

Problem is Ferguson had previous for two more incidents, getting into a fight in a pub in Fife and including "attacking" a police woman in a taxi rank in Stirling.... he got off with the first one with a fine, but at the time of the McStay incident he was on a suspended sentence for the for the incident in Stirling.

This is where it gets complex, as you can use the argument that football is a "contact sport".... And while rare, Ferguson was not the first player to appear before a judge for on the field incident, Chris Kamara in the 1980's got charged with Grievous bodily harm for a on the field incident.

My opinion Fergusons Lawyers just built their whole case around a technicality, and Ferguson has went through life blaming the SFA as a result.

[Fairbairn]

1 hour ago, wanderer said:

Basically he was poorly advised by his lawyers... Donald Findlay refused to take the case on (claiming conflict of interests at the times, but truth is he had seen enough of these cases to know that he was going down) but advised his lawyers to build their whole case that due to the fact it was a on the football field incident it falls under a internal SFA matter and should not be treated the same as a incident on Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night.....

Problem is Ferguson had previous for two more incidents, getting into a fight in a pub in Fife and including "attacking" a police woman in a taxi rank in Stirling.... he got off with the first one with a fine, but at the time of the McStay incident he was on a suspended sentence for the for the incident in Stirling.

This is where it gets complex, as you can use the argument that football is a "contact sport".... And while rare, Ferguson was not the first player to appear before a judge for on the field incident, Chris Kamara in the 1980's got charged with Grievous bodily harm for a on the field incident.

My opinion Fergusons Lawyers just built their whole case around a technicality, and Ferguson has went through life blaming the SFA as a result.

I think a massive part of his grievance with the SFA is them imposing the 12 match ban after he was released from prison as opposed to serving it on the games while he was locked up.  I think he eventually got that overturned but the damage was done by that point.  When you look back on it now, a 12 match ban for that incident seems massively over the top.

I've also just realised he was in the squad for Euro 92 and played 12 minutes in the opener against the Netherlands!  I have no recollection of that at all! 

[wanderer]

26 minutes ago, Fairbairn said:

I think a massive part of his grievance with the SFA is them imposing the 12 match ban after he was released from prison as opposed to serving it on the games while he was locked up.  I think he eventually got that overturned but the damage was done by that point.  When you look back on it now, a 12 match ban for that incident seems massively over the top.

I've also just realised he was in the squad for Euro 92 and played 12 minutes in the opener against the Netherlands!  I have no recollection of that at all! 

Yeah, that was probably the straw which broke the camels back for him.... certainly remember at the time the whole case was built around "the SFA will step in and sort it out" with regards to the court case.

Yeah, often over looked that he played in Euro 92 (I remember watching the Germany game and my dad screaming for Ferguson to come on).

When he signed for Rangers, didn't Smith more often than not play him out on the wing?

[Fairbairn]

46 minutes ago, wanderer said:

Yeah, that was probably the straw which broke the camels back for him.... certainly remember at the time the whole case was built around "the SFA will step in and sort it out" with regards to the court case.

Yeah, often over looked that he played in Euro 92 (I remember watching the Germany game and my dad screaming for Ferguson to come on).

When he signed for Rangers, didn't Smith more often than not play him out on the wing?

His biggest problem when he signed for Rangers was that Hateley had such an effective partnership with McCoist and was pretty much undroppable.  However after paying a record transfer fee (which may still be the record between 2 Scottish clubs?) there was a lot pf pressure on Smith to get Ferguson in the team so he was subsequently squeezed in to a weird outside left forward position.  Unsurprisingly his performances weren't great and goals were rare.  I think if Ferguson had stayed at United another year and moved to Rangers in the 94-95 season he'd have got a lot more game time and gone on to be a Rangers player for many years.

[wanderer]

31 minutes ago, Fairbairn said:

His biggest problem when he signed for Rangers was that Hateley had such an effective partnership with McCoist and was pretty much undroppable.  However after paying a record transfer fee (which may still be the record between 2 Scottish clubs?) there was a lot pf pressure on Smith to get Ferguson in the team so he was subsequently squeezed in to a weird outside left forward position.  Unsurprisingly his performances weren't great and goals were rare.  I think if Ferguson had stayed at United another year and moved to Rangers in the 94-95 season he'd have got a lot more game time and gone on to be a Rangers player for many years.

Yeah, even with McCoist being out through his leg break while playing for Scotland, I do not recall he really grabbed the chance, then Rangers signed Gordon Durie and looked to off load Ferguson at the first chance.

Agree, had he moved to Rangers that year later, while he maybe had to buy his time that season, he would have been a automatic replacement for Hatley when he moved on at the start of the following season.

I suspect it was more to make a rival team weaker, and to have a replacement for Hatley already signed up, but probably got that year or two extra out of Hatley they never really planned for.

Edited February 9, 2023 by wanderer

[Rich NATA]

8 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

playing for your country in the opening game of a world cup against brazil is the stuff of dreams.

Aye, you're right. That is the stuff of dreams. Not many Scots can say they've experienced that!

 

That's the question a friend or family member should ask of any player being a stubborn knob.

"How would you feel if Scotland were playing Brazil in the opening match of the World Cup and you weren't there, when you could have, should have, would have, been playing" 

 

[Squirrelhumper]

6 hours ago, ProudScot said:

Anyone who remembers the Kevin Kyle, Stevie Crawford, Paul Dickov & Steven Thompson years would dispute he wouldn’t have made a difference. 

 

Exactly. Light years ahead of them

[Orraloon]

9 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Ppl seem to think he would have made a massive difference to scotland but he wasnt that good. Kevin gallacher deserved his spot upfront for scotland in world cup 98 as he was on fire that season. Saying that its still a shame as he would have been a useful player to have in the squads in the late 90s and early noughties. Must be gutting for him as playing for your country in the opening game of a world cup against brazil is the stuff of dreams. 

Out of interest why didnt he play at euro 96? 

It wouldn't have been Kevin Gallacher's place he would have been competing for. It would have been Darren Jackson's. To this day, I still have no idea how Darren Jackson got into that squad, never mind the team. He was a decent club player but never international class.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Orraloon

[Ally Bongo]

I think it was Austria away where Duncan Ferguson started up front for us in one of his 7 caps

We would honestly have been better with Darren Jackson, Kevin Kyle et al going by that performance

Every time the ball got near him he was penalised

[scotlad]

23 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said:

Exactly. Light years ahead of them

I mind shortly after Euro '96 (or it might even have been shortly before), Tony Adams, England's captain, saying how relieved he was when he found out Duncan Ferguson wouldn't be available to play for Scotland.

In his autobiography Rio Ferdinand apparently said that Ferguson was one of the toughest competitors he faced in the EPL.

When he was fit, Duncan Ferguson was a quality player.

[wanderer]

50 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

I think it was Austria away where Duncan Ferguson started up front for us in one of his 7 caps

We would honestly have been better with Darren Jackson, Kevin Kyle et al going by that performance

Every time the ball got near him he was penalised

Problem was, Brown saw him a lump of a player to stick up front whom allowed Scotland a chance to go Wimbledon style and lump them up to Ferguson to set them up for his strike partner (it was the exact same in the Estonia game later one, his last cap).

Was at a sportsman dinner and Pat Nevin was there, and asked who he felt was the players that never quite made it for Scotland in his opinion, and without skipping a beat came out with "Duncan Ferguson".

Said when he first came into the squad that he thought he was a bit "dim", but given his size and stature, would make a good target man.... Roxbourgh then arranges a bounce game, with instruction "Pat, get them to Duncan's head so he can lay them up for Coisty"... Turned to Ferguson and could see him groan.... 2nd half Ferguson said to Pat "get the ball to me feet", and Pat did this, and said he maybe but 8 or 9 low crosses in and every time he stuck them into the back of the net.

Very next game, Scotland go route one again with him up front....

[er yir macaroon]

13 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Ppl seem to think he would have made a massive difference to scotland but he wasnt that good. Kevin gallacher deserved his spot upfront for scotland in world cup 98 as he was on fire that season. Saying that its still a shame as he would have been a useful player to have in the squads in the late 90s and early noughties. Must be gutting for him as playing for your country in the opening game of a world cup against brazil is the stuff of dreams. 

Out of interest why didnt he play at euro 96? 

Duncan Ferguson was a tremendous player. Look at his goals on Youtube if you’re too young to remember. One of the best EPL strikers when fully fit. Scotland tended to punt it up to him when he played, which was lazy and useless.