Duncan Ferguson headbutted Raith Rovers’ participant, John McStay, on the pitch at Ibrox in April 1994 in considered one of Scottish soccer’s most controversial moments.
Extremely, referee Kenny Clark missed the incident, however the authorities didn’t overlook it, and a 12 months and a half later, the striker was sentenced to 3 months in jail owing to a breach of probation due to different assault convictions on his document.
Talking solely to FourFourTwo over thirty years later, Ferguson is adamant he didn’t need to go to jail.
“I believe it was harsh, what occurred,” he explains calmly. “So, remorse? Yeah, I want it hadn’t occurred. There was slight contact – it wasn’t a full-blooded headbutt – and he went down, however I didn’t count on what got here subsequent.
“It was a giant second for me in my Rangers profession and in Scotland, as a result of it’s one of many the reason why I moved to the south.
“Walter Smith, God bless him, mentioned I wanted to get out of Scotland. In the long run, it price me my Scotland profession.”
Along with the jail sentence, Ferguson was banned for 12 video games with the Scottish FA refusing to rely video games missed whereas he was in jail.
It left a bitter style that Ferguson was by no means capable of recover from. No Scotsman has scored extra Premier League targets than him, but he by no means scored for his nation at worldwide stage, showing solely seven occasions.
“My coronary heart wasn’t in it. That’s the reality of it. I’d had the stuffing kicked out of me, I’d had the combat taken out of me. I used to be bitter, I used to be upset.
“After I got here out the nick I retired then. Craig Brown, bless him, mentioned ‘Duncan, no. I’m not going to inform anyone [that you’ve retired] as a result of that is ridiculous. You’re solely 23. You’ve obtained your entire profession forward of you’.
“They stored on pulling me out of squads, they stored on making up excuses. My dad, a proud Jock, a proud Scotsman, mentioned ‘get again’. I ended up going again. I didn’t wish to return. I performed a few video games however my coronary heart wasn’t in it. In the long run I mentioned to them: ‘I’m no good to you’.
“it’s the most important remorse of my profession not taking part in extra for my nation. I ought to’ve damaged objective information. There wasn’t a centre ahead who was going to take my place.
“That’s simply phrases now, folks overlook. My document’s not there.”
There’s a bitter irony that Ferguson discovered himself inside a world he thought he’d escaped due to his means on a soccer pitch, due to his actions on a soccer pitch.
Barlinnie is a notoriously violent jail in Glasgow, and Ferguson lived inside it as a Rangers participant, on mortgage to Everton on the time, having joined the Ibrox membership for £4 million two years prior.
“I obtained taken care of,” he admits, including matter of factly: “however that received’t cease any person throwing a bucket of s**te at you.”
