I never disliked him, his love of the club is unquestionable, but how he has managed to achieve status he has that's ended up with him being given a legend spot on Everton way is beyond me. He was never more than an average player who on rare occasions was fantastic.
He's played you and others like a grand piano.I get that view, I really do, but he was a focal point for a lot of kids who never had much else at the club to idolise. He may not be a legend performance wise, but I think he is an idol. Somebody who you know loves Everton like we do.
Years ago, I went to a meal at Goodison. They used to do meals with the players on Friday before a game. About 100 people including players and staff, all sat down eating dinner. It was around 96, the time of Ablett, Amokachi, Nev, Ferguson, the whole lot.
Anyway, once dinner was over Nev made out he was off to the toilet, then just tried to disappear before anybody noticed. He'd have succeeded too if Amokachi hadn't blocked him in, so he came back up, Amo gave him his keys to move his car, but Nev couldn't figure out how to get it started so had to come back up again. He got collared by fans for signatures then, including me, and he was fuming.
I got grabbed to go and have photos then to promote the Goodison tour for some reason, but anyway when I got back there were very few of the players left, except for Dunc. He was still holding court, making sure he spoke to everybody and give them time. I was last, having been doing the photo thing, and he came over to me, spoke to me and we must have been sat for about 20-30 minutes just talking, as everybody else left and the cleaners were cleaning round our feet. He was asking me about my game, my position, like a mate. I'll never forget that half hour, and I doubt I'm the only one who had the chance to connect with him in that way.
Southall is an absolute bonifide legend of this club (my dogs named after him and you cant get bigger praise than that), but on that day, only one player felt like a legend to me, and I'll always love him for it.
I think the term legend at a club has many facets, some of those mean more to some.than others, but the absolute minimum is a shared love and passion for the club. For example, Lukaku was an outstanding goalscorer, but will never be a legend of the club. Lineker the same in my eyes (maybe our own fault). Ferguson though has such a deep love for the club and it's fans that I can, in this case, overlook some of the other areas that are perhaps lacking.
I think that's harsh given what the poster has said about Ferguson. I'm not a fan, he only turned up for Everton when he could bothered and he's certainly not the sharpest tool in the box, but he obviously cares about Everton and the fans. Kevin Campbell and Richarlison are far bigger blues for me as they tried their hearts out for the club against all opposition not just Man Utd and the rs
Patto's book 'Dealing with a stalker' is due out next week dave!
I think that's more to do with the fact he's a bit thick rather than anything malicious in terms of sendings off. However he didn't keep himself fit and left us in the lurch only to magically recover to score in what he saw as the 'big' games. I was never a fan and never will be.
Did he leave a 1 star review of yours and mrs eggs favourite hotel in Cyprus or something? You don’t like him, we all know it because for some reason you’ve felt the need to say it 14000 times, but just let other people feel the way they feel without belittling them. We haven’t all had the opportunity to see proper success at Everton and for an entire generation Ferguson was the closest thing we had to a legend. He’s also (by the accounts of literally everybody I know who has met him, including former teammates) a really nice bloke.
From a job at Inverness that you had been doing for free.
One thing I've got from his recent media splurge is an admission his career was one littered with terrible decisions and selfish actions on and off the pitch.
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