Despite an injury-blighted spell at Newcastle, former striker Duncan Ferguson is a player that many of our fans look back on fondly as part of our squad in the late 1990s.
Playing 41 times and scoring 12 goals, Ferguson may not have been as prolific as Alan Shearer, but few can deny the influence and impact the big Scotsman could have on the field.
But speaking in a recent podcast, Ferguson may have had some untold influence on Newcastle’s, and English football’s, future with a few short words he said to a legend-in-the-making.
“If United want you, you better go’
Speaking on The Overlap, Ferguson reflected on his playing days and the time he spent alongside a up-and-coming Wayne Rooney at Everton.
With Rooney having his breakout campaign at EURO 2004, we were at one point leading the race to sign the youngster, alongside Manchester United.
It would be the Red Devils who ended up signing Rooney for a staggering £25.6m, but it all could have been so different if not for Big Dunc’.
“He was going to go to Newcastle, and I advised him against that move, before he went to Manchester United.”
“I told him that Newcastle was a great club, but ‘if United and Sir Alex Ferguson want you, you better go.”
“Alan (Shearer) and Wayne were the best strikers I played with. Wayne was only young at the time, but you could see where he was going to get to, he was a top player.”
Could Rooney at Newcastle have changed football forever?
With the benefit of retrospect, Rooney would have been the perfect heir to Shearer upon our record goalscorer’s retirement in 2006.
Michael Owen failed to live up to the mantle and fell short of the standards that we needed him to perform at. Whilst Rooney’s career trajectory only went upwards in the early 2000s, breaking records and winning the Champions League alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.
Though we’re currently enjoying the best attacking football St James’ Park has ever seen in the current side, one can only sit and wonder what two seasons of Shearer and Rooney together in between 2004-06 could have accomplished.
