We all have them, Players who we wish had been a success for our club and, when they move on, keep an eye on the rest of their careers. For me, it was Duncan Ferguson.
He was the most obvious signing that we could make in 1993, one of the top young talents in Europe who it was easy to justify breaking the British transfer record for. The perfect long-term successor to Mark Hateley in the Rangers attack and someone who had the potential to lead the line well into the next decade.
Of course, it never turned out quite the way Walter Smith planned. A shambolic court case was followed by the SFA handing down a 12-match ban that was later thrown out by the judicial system as being draconian and, fundamentally, punishing Ferguson for the same “crime” twice.
It was this ban that led to Ferguson’s self-imposed exile from international duty but it was his former manager and team-mate who came closest to dragging him back into Scotland duty, as told to Tony Bellew’s 5Live podcast, via The Glasgow Times:
“They asked me every year for 14 years. They asked me every year until I was 34. Ally McCoist phoned me up at 10 o’clock one night and said ‘Big man, come back, we’re playing Italy in a World Cup qualifier and you’ll play’.
“With Walter as manager I was tempted because I loved him, a great man who unfortunately isn’t with us. He was a lovely man, a great fella and a gentleman.
“And I really thought about it then, and with Ally being there as well, but I was just pigheaded. I’d put a line in the sand and that’s my biggest regret – not playing for my country.”
It was during those years that Scotland, arguably, needed him most. No major tournaments since France ’98 and with Kenny Miller the man usually charged with leading the line. Having someone like Ferguson to give another option – have you seen Peter Crouch’s international strike rate? – would have been hugely beneficial, but his mind was made up.
As the new Forest Green Rovers manager, he has a tough fight on his hands at the bottom of League 1 but, as a man with Carlo Ancelotti’s backing, I wouldn’t bet against Ferguson winning against the odds once again.