Profile: Duncan Ferguson, former footballer

FOURTEEN years after he notified the Scottish Football Association that he did not want to play for his country again, a period in which his detachment from public life has made him into an almost mythical figure, Duncan Ferguson has re-established a working relationship with the game's governing body. At the Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre yesterday, he was among a group of budding coaches starting a nine-day course that will earn them their B licence.

Those of us gathered on the steps of the main building in the vain hope that he might let bygones be bygones and share a few thoughts with the press had to content ourselves with a rare sighting of the lesser-spotted Ferguson, who told an adviser that he had not spoken to journalists for the best part of 20 years and did not intend to start now. Maybe we should be grateful that he was here at all, in Largs no less, the Ayrshire seaside town synonymous with the SFA and the coaching programmes that have produced some of the game's greatest managers.

Ferguson flew in from his Spanish base on Friday night, attended an introductory meeting yesterday morning and, after a spot of lunch, made his way down to the training pitch where the hard work would begin. Unfortunately for the assembled photographers, neither he nor his fellow students were kitted out in SFA tracksuits, but he was soon bibbed up and thrown into a small-sided match that rolled back the years.

Now 39, and thinning a bit on top, Ferguson looks as big and strong as ever, five years after his retirement. The former Dundee United, Rangers, Everton and Newcastle United striker was joined by a few familiar faces, including Paul Hartley, Barry Nicholson, Scott Wilson and Ross Wallace, all of whom will be assessed in the coming days by Donald Park and Ray McKinnon, a team-mate of Ferguson at Tannadice.

Ferguson consulted McKinnon before signing up for the course. He is establishing two football academies - in La Manga and Majorca, where he lives - and wants the credibility that comes with SFA qualifications.

"We're delighted to have him," said McKinnon. "Honestly. Everybody's delighted to see him. A Scottish internationalist. You want people like that on your courses. Even though we do get a good calibre of people, it just lifts the profile a wee bit. Look at the career he has had, the people he has played for, the moves he has made. Nobody can ever level any criticism at him in terms of what he has achieved in the game. He was a fabulous player.I take my hat off to him."

The pity is that for all his success on the pitch, particularly during two spells with Everton, where more than 70 goals made him something of a folk hero, Ferguson is destined to be remembered in Scotland for other things.

He is in good company all the same. As he started his session on the hillside high above Largs yesterday, it was possible to see the town below and the bay where Jimmy Johnstone's famous escapade in a rowing boat is still remembered. Ferguson quit international football in 1997, reputedly in protest at the way he was treated by the SFA after the notorious incident with Jock McStay, although he has never gone on record to spell that out.

The then Rangers player, already on probation for previous convictions, was found guilty of assault for headbutting McStay in a match against Raith Rovers at Ibrox in 1994. He was so angry with the way it was reported in the press that he never spoke to them again.

He was the first professional player to be jailed for an on-field assault, serving 44 days in Barlinnie prison. After his release, he was asked to serve what remained of a 12-match SFA ban.

Ferguson played only seven times for Scotland, and never scored, although his overhead kick against Germany at Ibrox in 1993 is fondly remembered. Oddly, he played three times for his country post-headbutt, the last a 0-0 draw with Estonia in February 1997. He has never explained why he chose then to quit, and maybe never will.

If he still holds a grudge against the SFA, there was no sign of it yesterday. It is a different organisation, run by different people these days, and Ferguson has not allowed history to cloud his judgment. "Why should it?" said McKinnon. "I spoke to him earlier and he said he would never have considered anywhere else. We feel this is probably one of the best courses around, and he is a Scottish player so he deserves to be here."

Even Ferguson would have to admit that his reputation does not single him out as a manager in the making. Scottish football's most famous pigeon fancier got himself into no end of scrapes during his playing days, from a spat with a fisherman in Anstruther to an incident with a burglar in Liverpool. Ferguson was said to have "subdued" the intruder, who was in hospital for the next three days.

But McKinnon believes that Ferguson's past will have no bearing on his future as a coach. His achievements on the pitch will be inspiration enough for young players, and it could be that a year or two working with them in Spain will get his juices flowing. He might even fancy himself as a manager, although McKinnon could not shed any light on that prospect.

"He didn't say, but you never know. When people come down here and get back into coaching, they get a real taste for it.

"They realise that they might be quite good at it.They communicate well with people, and it sort of sows the seed."

It worked for Walter Smith, David Moyes, Jose Mourinho and a host of others who have come through the famous system developed by Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown.

Whether it will work for its latest high-profile student is another matter.

Duncan Ferguson? A member of the Largs mafia? Surely not.