Duncan Ferguson’s name stands beside a few different records in football, some he is proud of, some not so much.
Scoring more Premier League goals than any other Scotsman, for example, is a source of particular pride.
His record for the most Premier League cards (shared with Patrick Vieira and Richard Dunne) less so. At least he hasn’t been sent off ten times or more.
Red faced
When FourFourTwo press him on the subject, he winces. “A centre forward getting the most red cards is no good, is it?
“People talk about it, don’t they? I laugh sometimes, to be honest, if I hear about it. Some of the red cards were ridiculous, man.
“They weren’t worth it. Two or three of them shouldn’t have been given. I don’t see myself as that person.”
One, a push on John Jensen at Highbury in 1995, still bothers him.
“He [Jensen] jumped and screamed – screamed! The referee turned around and gave me a straight red card.
“Just a push, nothing. I know now that for just a push, you can get a red card, but back then, never.
“One was at Leicester when I went for a header and smashed the centre back, but I won the ball first. Straight red. So there are two or three in there that, you know…
The third of his eight reds in England was a second yellow card incurred late into a game for Everton at Blackburn in 1996.
When FourFourTwo learns the context, we probe Ferguson for more details.
“He had no hair, the referee [David Elleray] explains Ferguson.
“I was singing ‘who’s a baldy b*stard’ do you know what I mean? But not to him. I was just singing in the pitch, kind of like a daft thing [sings] ‘Who’s a baldy b*stard’.
“Joe Parkinson’s a fucking baldy bastard in our team. But he [the referee] took offence to it.
“He was 30 yards away, but he ran up to me – card.
“It was aimed at him,” admits Ferguson “He probably knew.
“Tim Sherwood come up saying ‘f**king hell, ref, he was shouting at me.’
“Tim Sherwood looked like fucking Tarzan!”
Ferguson could possibly have grounds for feeling hard done by had his first yellow not been issued less than a minute earlier for dissent.
Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography by Duncan Ferguson, written with Henry Winter, is available to buy now from in hardback, eBook and audiobook (read by Duncan)
