Revisited: Everton loan for Ferguson and Durrant

Ahead of Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial today, we’ll be revisiting a few articles from the past…

Tuesday 04 October 1994

After several hours of medical checks and negotiations at Goodison Park, Ian Durrant and Duncan Ferguson both joined on loan, but Trevor Steven’s move was shelved indefinitely. Durrant moves to Goodison for a ‘fitness-assessing’ month and Ferguson for three months.

Questions over the fitness of Steven, who has a calf injury, and a problem over terms meant there could be no immediate return to Everton for him five years after his pounds 1.4m sale to Rangers. The decision was taken by the Everton chairman, Peter Johnson, who handled the negotiations for his club.

Durrant, a 27-year-old midfield player, has been battling for more than two years to recover from a serious knee injury. Ferguson, a 22-year-old striker, has struggled to make an impact at Ibrox since his pounds 4m move last summer from Dundee United. His cause has not been helped by a 12- match ban imposed by the Scottish Football Association – which he is appealing against – and an impending court appearance after an alleged head-butting incident involving the Raith defender, John McStay.

Mike Walker, the harassed Everton manager, plans to pitch Durrant and Ferguson into the Coca-Cola Cup game at Portsmouth tomorrow, a tie in which Everton trail 3-2 after the home leg. Durrant, who is rated at pounds 2m, said: ‘There’s no problem with my fitness. I played 70 games in the last three seasons.’

Ferguson has made only three starts for Rangers this season. ‘I need first-team football, so I jumped at this chance. I want to show people I can still play this game,’ he said.

Everton have won just five of the 29 games they have played under Walker and yesterday’s activities will hardly enhance the reputation of what appears to be an accident- prone club. The proposed transfer of Muller fell through last month when, after weeks of negotiations, the Brazilian striker demanded the club pay his tax.