FOOTIE hard-man Duncan Ferguson has recalled the moment he was burgled – before having to resuscitate one of the men who had sneaked into his house.
The 51-year-old took over League 1 strugglers Forest Green Rovers last month in his first permanent job in football manager.
Now seven points away from safety, Ferguson has quite the job on his hands if he is to keep them up.
But the former Everton striker rarely shies away from a challenge, as he proved the night he was burgled while in his Merseyside home in 2001.
Speaking on the Tony Bellew Is Angry podcast, Big Dunc spoke about he “unloaded” upon one burglar to such a degree that he then had to revive them.
Ferguson said: “I’m lying on the couch. I heard something. I put my trainers on. I had no top on, I was ripped back then, and I could see two shadows coming through the conservatory.
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“I was quite calm. I am quite calm with these things, probably because I’ve had one or two of these situations in the past, you get used to it. I got a grip of one of them and that was when I got angry… I unloaded, I really did. I really followed in to the point where I thought I’d killed him, I really did.
“I had to try and resuscitate him then. So you go from a point of unloading on the fella to helping him. It happened in a matter of seconds.”
The two men later found responsible for the burglary, Michael Pratt and Barry Dawson, were eventually jailed.
Dawson needed three days of hospital treatment after tangling with Ferguson while Pratt turned himself into police the following day.
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Sentencing the pair, Judge Anthony Procter told Dawson and Pratt: “There is no way you can be called hardened criminals but we are dealing with a burglary at night when the house was occupied.
“Mr Ferguson may give the impression of being a hard man, but it is clear he was shaken by this incident, primarily for the effects on his wife and young child.”
Ferguson has lost his first two games in charge of Forest Green so far as he looks to help them avoid going straight back down to League 2.
The opening loss came in heart-breaking circumstances as his side led 1-0 heading into stoppage time at Shrewsbury but lost 2-1 after the host conjured up two late goals.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
