A return that CAN’T be missed! 28 years after leaving jail and Scotland, Big Dunc is back in Scottish football – and his new role as Inverness Caledonian Thistle boss promises to be as raw and meaty as they come

At 6.40am on November 24, 1995, the gates of Barlinnie prison in Glasgow’s east end, slid open.

Duncan Ferguson, the first professional footballer to go to jail for an offence committed on the field of play, was illuminated by the flash bulbs of cameras pressed against the windows of a Daimler.

Edging past a small group of devoted Everton fans, the former Rangers striker ordered the driver to press the pedal to the metal and hit the M74 as fast as the wheels would spin.

Nursing a strong sense of injustice over his treatment at the hands of the Procurator Fiscal and an SFA hierarchy hellbent on punishing him twice, his 44 days in prison had come to an end.

Tired, disgusted and stigmatised the man known as ‘Duncan Disorderly’ — trademark, every front page in the land — felt the need to consign Scottish football to his past. Returning to Liverpool, he turned the page and began a new chapter.

Your browser does not support iframes.

Twenty eight years later, Big Dunc is back in an old groove. Sacked as the manager of Britain’s first vegan football club in July, his return to Scottish football with Inverness Caledonian Thistle promises to be as raw and as meaty as they come.

Under normal circumstances, a meeting of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Arbroath would be no one’s idea of a box-office fixture. A couple of lines in a weekend sport supplement would represent blanket coverage.

When Ferguson shakes hands with Dick Campbell at a venue where he scored three of his five Rangers goals in one League Cup game, however, the press seats of Gayfield will be full to capacity. Photographers will clamour for the pic destined to feature on every back page in the land. Even the wind whipping off the North Sea will pause for a gawp.

Everyone has an image in their mind’s eye of Big Dunc in the days of big shoulder pads and even bigger headlines.

My own stretches back to Boxing Day 1992 and the aftermath of Ferguson’s match-winning goal over Celtic at Parkhead.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle have appointed Ferguson (above) as their new manager

Hitting the town to meet friends later, Dundee United’s main man was first spotted sinking bottles of beer in the bar in Princes Square. The next time he hovered into sight was the early hours of the morning as he spun around in the middle of Glasgow’s Mitchell Street, arms outstretched, singing.

Alcohol was always his Achilles heel. Months later he was found guilty of punching and kicking a 19-year-old postman on crutches as they waited in a taxi queue in Stirling.

This offers context to the events of April 1994 when, as a £4million Rangers player, Ferguson aimed a headbutt towards Raith Rovers defender Jock McStay.

There was some pushing and jostling before the Ibrox striker propelled his head towards his opponent, who tumbled to the ground. Had referee Kenny Clark flashed a red card, that might have been that.

Jailing a footballer for an on-field flashpoint was a preposterous over-reaction. But Ferguson was deemed to be a repeat violent offender. And the Scottish FA’s determination to throw in a 12-game ban for an element of double jeopardy added insult to injury.

‘I’ve had three or four fights in my life and every one I’ve been charged with,’ he admitted in a BBC interview with former boxer Tony Bellew earlier this year. ‘All because I was a football player.’

His anger became a club with which to beat opponents and unwelcome burglars alike. He racked up more red cards in the English Premier League than Vinnie Jones. He reacted so badly to an attempt to rob his house that he put one of the miscreants in hospital for three days.

Ferguson was first professional footballer to go to jail for an offence committed on the pitch

Incensed by the stance of the SFA, he withdrew his services from the Scotland national team — and lived to regret it. Now, at the age of 51, Ferguson has — in his own words —‘wisened up’. Returning to Scottish football for the first time since 1994, he has made his peace.

He prefers pigeons, dogs and fishing to pubs and clubs these days. The tranquillity of the Highlands could suit him. ‘It takes you a night to get a reputation and a lifetime to get rid of it,’ he told Bellew in February.

‘The most important thing for me is to keep away from alcohol. It’s simple as that for me.

‘Everybody, anybody, don’t drink alcohol. For me personally that led to other things.

‘It put me in stupid situations with stupid people. Being in taxi ranks when I shouldn’t have been. Don’t get me wrong, I never caused these problems. But I was going out and drinking and for me alcohol is the thing I would stay away from.’

While the Inverness dressing room is unlikely to host a Band of Hope from the Temperance Society, the struggling Championship side have acquired a manager who has learned from his own mistakes. He has fallen into every pitfall football has to offer and come out the other side.

A former academy coach at Everton, Big Dunc coached every age group between 12 and 18 while he pursued his badges. He worked under two Champions League winning managers in Rafael Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti.

None of this guarantees success in the competitive, unforgiving environment of the Scottish Championship.

The 51-year-old left Forest Green Rovers in July following just one win in charge

Ferguson’s only previous crack at management was an ill-fated five-month stay at Forest Green Rovers where he won one game in 18.

For a club with accumulated losses of £3.1m over the last five seasons, a three-year deal for an unproven manager is a gamble. While the Highlanders might hope for some of the fire and brimstone of a Jim McLean — his first manager at Dundee United — Ferguson, is a mass of contradictions.

Despite the convictions, the red cards and the evidence of a quick temper, the former Scotland international claims to be ‘an easy-going fella’ who eschews the hairdryer tactics of a Sir Alex Ferguson.

Whatever he tries, an Inverness side travelling to Arbroath with one point from six league matches need results. With just three goals to their name, it might not be Big Dunc the manager they need. It’s Big Dunc the buccaneering, gung-ho, take-no-nonsense striker.