One of the complaints about modern football is that there are no characters anymore, since Alfredo Morelos left Rangers, it’s a valid point.
The Rangers squad that is considered the most successful won 9-in-a-row and came agonisingly close to the Champions League final was full of characters.
That Duncan Ferguson was one of the quiet ones tells its own story.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Ferguson has given a warts and all account of his disciplinary record, the failed attempts to burgle his house, his big moves and fulfilling his dream at Rangers.
A dream move that so nearly never came about.
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Duncan Ferguson nearly didn’t sign for Rangers
As Britain’s hottest prospect, Ferguson was scoring a goal every two games for Dundee Utd with Jim McLean only letting him join Rangers for a record transfer fee.
Had it not been Walter Smith who spotted young Ferguson playing youth football and persuaded McLean to sign him for Utd, a move to the club he supports might not have been possible.
Asked if he had any other options, Ferguson revealed:
“I could have stayed where I wanted to stay. He (Smith) wanted me to stay for another 12 months, right? Because you had Ally McCoist there, you had Mark Hateley there, you had other great players there who had done a lot of winning.
“They’d won title after title. And he was bringing me for backup already starting a year’s time or two years’ time. But because I was desperate to get out, you know, I wanted to get out.
“And then Leeds had just won the old division, Leeds, before the Premier League had kicked in. So, I went to Leeds and spoke to them. They wanted me to replace one of the strikers down there, big fellow, what was his name again?
“Lee Chapman. They wanted me to replace him.”
Ferguson explained that Chelsea also wanted to take him south to the newly established Premier League, but it would be another couple of seasons before defenders over the border would have sleepless nights at the thought of facing the towering target man.
What went wrong for Ferguson?
The draw of playing for Smith and for Rangers was too much for Ferguson but his dream quickly soured for a number of reasons.
Injuries plagued what was still a successful career, but his time at Ibrox foreshadowed what was to come at Everton and then Newcastle United.
Despite being first into the training ground and last out, his body simply couldn’t cope with the demands of elite level football for sustained periods of time, and the next hamstring injury was always just around the corner.
In a parallel universe, Ferguson stays injury free, steps into Mark Hateley’s shoes to partner Ally McCoist, and becomes a Rangers and Scotland legend.
What might have been.
