Football legend regrets ever drinking and infamous night out in Scottish village
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Football legend Duncan Ferguson, who quit drinking at 37, has admitted any time there had been trouble in his life, alcohol has been involved.
The 53-year-old has had a few notable scraps during his playing days, including an infamous incident at the Royal Hotel in Anstruther, a quiet fishing village on the Fife coast, The Mirror reports.
At aged 21, he was attending a Young Player of the Year event and described himself as: 'Like a big, daft softie, I was too easily led astray.'
The Mirror reports the Premier League legend was buying a round when someone with him got into a confrontation with another person.
As Ferguson split them up, a "big man" on a stool at the bar got involved. Ferguson said they did not want any trouble but the man replied: ''Well, I'll f***ing give you…"
Dunc recalled: 'He never got the word out of his mouth. As he made to get up from his stool, I sensed what was coming and didn't wait. Boom. The fella slid off his stool and all hell broke loose. It was like the Wild West."
At 4am police called round where he was staying with officers asking: "Is Duncan Ferguson here?"
Looking back, Ferguson says: 'I was there all right. Laid out on the sofa, rotten, stinking drunk, buck naked aside from a pink hat someone had given me earlier that was still on my head.
"I had lipstick on, an earring and a silk glove. And nothing else. It was a strange night.
'At some point I'd got into fancy dress. I still don't know when. The police took one look at me and said, 'We'll come back later.' Which they did."
Ferguson regrets the stress and anguish he must have put his parents through.
And now he admits: "I now know as a parent how worrying it is when the phone goes late at night. My kids can't remember the drinking. I just tell them I never had a drink.
"My two lads don't drink. Once I stopped drinking, I stopped the nights out, I stopped putting myself in dangerous positions. I know I've become a better person sober.
"But you know what? I've never actually said, 'I've stopped drinking'. I don't count the days since I last had a drink. I'm not in rehab.
'Maybe one day I'll start drinking again. Maybe one day I'll be a great manager and Everton will win the Premiership.
"If I'm offered a glass of champagne I might think, 'You know what? I'll have a nice glass of champagne!' Maybe.'
Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography by Duncan Ferguson, with Henry Winter, is published on 8th May by Century
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