Duncan Cowan Ferguson (born 27 December 1971) is a Scottish football coach and former player who is the manager of Scottish League One club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
He began his career at Dundee United in 1990, and moved to Rangers in 1993 for what was then a British transfer record fee. He spent the remainder of his career in England, moving to Everton in 1994 before a stint with Newcastle United between 1998 and 2000, after which he returned to Everton, where he retired in 2006.
During his career, Ferguson won the FA Cup with Everton in 1995. He was capped for Scotland seven times, playing at UEFA Euro 1992, but made himself unavailable for selection for the national team from 1997 due to a dispute with the Scottish Football Association (SFA). He has scored more goals than any other Scottish player in England's Premier League since its creation in 1992.
Ferguson's aggressive style of play resulted in a career total of nine red cards, as well as a three-month prison sentence following an on-field assault of Raith Rovers' John McStay in 1994. Eight of those red cards were in the English Premier League, where he holds the joint record for dismissals alongside Patrick Vieira and Richard Dunne. He is known by the nicknames "Big Dunc" and "Duncan Disorderly".
Ferguson was promoted to the first-team coaching staff at Everton in 2014. Following the dismissal of Everton manager Marco Silva in December 2019, he was named as the team's caretaker manager until Silva's replacement Carlo Ancelotti was appointed manager a few weeks later, at which point Ferguson was made assistant manager. Ferguson left Everton after a second stint as caretaker manager in 2022. After a brief spell as Forest Green Rovers manager, he was appointed manager of Inverness Caledonian Thistle in September 2023.
Ferguson made his first full international appearance for Scotland on 17 May 1992, in a 1–0 win over the United States in Denver. He was selected for UEFA Euro 1992 in Sweden, making one substitute appearance against reigning champions the Netherlands on 12 June. He withdrew from UEFA Euro 1996 in England due to surgery on a recurring hernia. He made seven Scotland appearances in all, with his last appearance coming in February 1997.
Ferguson refused international selection after 1997, partly in protest against his treatment by the SFA after his conviction for assault on John McStay and in particular the imposition of a 12-game ban on top of his three-month prison sentence. Ferguson believed that second punishment violated the principle of double jeopardy. Speaking in February 2023, Ferguson said that not playing more for Scotland was the "biggest regret in my career". He also revealed that Scotland managers had repeatedly asked him to come out of retirement, with the last request coming from Walter Smith in 2005. Ferguson blamed his own "pig-headedness" for not accepting those invitations.
English FA Cup 1994-1995 Everton |
English Premier League 2 Goals 2000-08-23 |
1990-1993 |
1992-1997 |
1993-1995 |
1995-1999 |
1999-2000 |
2000-2006 |
2019-2019 Caretaker Manager |
2019-2022 Assistant Manager |
2022-2022 Caretaker Manager |
2022-2022 Assistant Manager |
2023-2023 Manager |