Rangers hero Duncan Ferguson on life in prison, including emotional letter he got from nine-year-old Wayne Rooney

Scottish Sun

03-05-2025

The big striker had the reputation for being a hard man, but he feared he would be slashed - or worse - behind bars
BEHIND BARS Rangers hero Duncan Ferguson on life in prison, including emotional letter he got from nine-year-old Wayne Rooney
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DUNCAN FERGUSON has opened up on his Barlinnie hell - and the morale-boosting letter he got from a nine-year-old Wayne Rooney.
Ferguson spent 44 weeks in the hard-as-nails Glasgow prison after a headbutt on Raith Rovers' Jock McStay when he was on probation.
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Duncan Ferguson has opened up on life in prison in his new book
Credit: Reuters
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He was jailed for a 'Glasgow kiss' on John McStay
Credit: SNS
The Scot had followed manager Walter Smith from Rangers to Everton by the time he completed his jail sentence and became a cult hero with the Goodison Park fans, helping them avoid relegation in the 1994-95 campaign.
A dyed-in-the-wool Toffees fan who had looked up to him felt compelled to write to the striker after he was locked up in October 1995.
That young man was a certain Wayne Rooney.
And Ferguson, in his new book BIG DUNC: The Upfront Autobiography, has revealed how he was uplifted by the messages of support from punters whilst imprisoned.
He also opened up on his fears of being slashed whilst in the slammer, including a petrifying ordeal with Barlinnie's barber.
In an excerpt via the Daily Record, Ferguson has recalled what life in prison was like for him during his three-month stint behind bars.
He said: "My daily prison routine began with no frills - prisoners woke up at 6.30am and headed to the communal shower area.
"Nothing could have prepared me for discovering what that pot in the corner of my room was really for, as I stood in line watching men depositing faeces and urine from their chamber pots into big sinks.
"What did I expect? Proper sanitation? A disgrace, it was.
"From that morning onwards I would worry about who was standing at my back.
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"I needed eyes in the back of my head to avoid some scarface pouring his p*** and s*** on me.
"They all had scars inside Barlinnie, you could get cut to ribbons for £2 of credit on a phonecard.
"I was told about toothbrushes with razor blades moulded into the plastic - the weapon of choice.
"After slopping out, it was breakfast at 7am back in our cells - I had a boiled egg while sitting on the edge of my bed.
"Then the cell doors were opened and I steeled myself.
"'Should I leave my cell?' I sat on the edge of my bed, thinking of the knives that might be waiting.
"'Come on, Dunc, take that step.'
"I heard whispering: 'There's Dunc.'
"And then a louder voice from across the landing: 'D'ya want your hair cut, big fella?'
"A boy wearing the regulation red shirt with white stripes stood there, holding a pair of scissors.
"How would I react? 'Yes, no problem, mate,' I said, and I walked across the gallery and over to the chair where I sat in front of him.
"I felt sick, this guy could stick his scissors in my throat. It was the most frightened I've ever been.
"All of a sudden his hands dropped down on my shoulders, and I could see the scissors out of the corner of my eye. Just one stabbing motion away from my jugular.
"'What will it be, big fella?'
"'Short back and sides, wee man.'"
"And he began to cut my hair. It broke the ice. If I was going to get slashed, at least it wouldn't be by the barber of Barlinnie."
Ferguson admitted that the amount of letters he received ran into the thousands.
Although, not all were in positive sentiment.
But nine-year-old kid Rooney - at this time completely unknown as to who he'd become - was one who did express his support for Big Dunc.
Ferguson said: "What got me through the long, lonely nights in Barlinnie was that I must have received 10,000 letters. Incredible.
"I killed time reading them all. Fans wishing me well and, yes, some expressing rather different sentiments.
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Ferguson was something of a cult hero at Everton by the time he was sent to prison
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
"A young boy called Wayne Rooney wrote. He must have been only nine or 10. I was an Everton player by this stage. I wrote him one back, without a clue who this passionate football fan would turn out to be. (I've heard Wayne still has the letter today.)
"Some people sent me books, books about pigeons, books about football, books about breaking out of prison. They sent me a blow-up sex doll, which got confiscated. But the letters I treasured most were from Evertonians like Wayne.
"Looking back now, I still can't believe the top brass of Everton, my manager Joe Royle, club chairman Peter Johnson and director Clifford Finch, came to see me.
"It was really nice of them, brave as well.
"They came into the waiting room at Barlinnie, and it's like Beirut in there. A total war zone people bringing drugs, and misery and menace in the air.
"Having that support from the high-ups at Everton and the fans meant the world."
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Wayne Rooney would burst onto the scene at Everton in a few years' time
Credit: PA:Empics Sport
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