DUNCAN FERGUSON The ‘crime bosses' who were my best friends - including one of Britain's most wanted men
Former Everton and Newcastle ace Duncan Ferguson was one of the Premier League's most feared hard-men, but he was stunned to learn about the true identity of his off-field friends in a 2004 BBC Panorama special
In May 2024 Duncan Ferguson watched a Panorama show titled The Crime Bosses Who Terrorised a City.
The player said: 'I nearly dropped dead. I knew every one of them, I drank with every one of them, I played pool with every one of them. Some had been at my wedding.
'They all looked after me. They were my mates. I couldn't believe it when I saw the programme. I was in shock."
Ferguson had no idea his pals were running the Huyton Firm, serious players in the drugs underworld. He said: 'We just spoke about football. I never pried. They liked me. I was an Everton man, a star player. They were Everton fans and I was one of the lads, I fitted in.'
At one point he was inseparable from Mark Quinn, a drug smuggler jailed for seven years in 2022 after being on the run."He was tough, respected, feared but also generous, one of the few guys I had to constantly fight to pay a bill, and was good company," says Ferguson.
"He was a big Blue and, at one point, we were inseparable. And I definitely felt I had a level of protection, as long as I never overstepped the mark, which I never did.
"We were a good group. We weren't bullies, we were loved. They never, ever tried to involve me in anything. They had too much respect for me."
Ferguson admits however: 'Eventually I did become concerned. Especially after an incident where Mark, who had a neck like Mike Tyson, punched a doorman who'd insulted him. I began thinking about the drinking, the bad situations it led me into. Mark changed that night, and I think I changed too. Where there's drink, there's trouble. I wished I'd listened.
'All of Mark's mates came on my stag do in Benidorm in 1998. The police followed us to the airport. How we got into Spain, I don't know.
"Later on, after I'd moved abroad and into coaching, I learned some of my mates ended up getting shot and killed. Some went to prison for supplying drugs.
'I knew they were up to no good but, Jesus, I never thought for one minute how heavy they were.'
Ferguson was pictured next to the Huyton boys in police stations and his solicitors told him: 'Duncan, you need to get away from these people, your face is all over mugshots. Keep away from them. I wouldn't listen."
Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography by Duncan Ferguson, with Henry Winter, is published on 8th May by Century
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