Duncan Ferguson: After Everton exit, where suits best for his management career

The last time Duncan Ferguson walked out of Everton, he refused the offer of a handshake from David Moyes and turned his back on football for several years.

It says much about his new-found drive and commitment that his latest exit from his beloved club is born of a desire to better himself.

In a seven-minute interview, entitled “the farewell interview”, uploaded on Everton’s website on Monday, a dapper-looking Ferguson spoke about wanting to pursue his managerial ambitions. “I need to do it,” he said. “I need to take the next step.”

Unlike the wrist watch gifted to him by Howard Kendall’s widow Lily that had stopped at quarter past eight and which he wore when taking caretaker charge of the team, time cannot stand still. There is a world beyond the Wirral.

His prospects certainly seem a lot brighter than they did in May 2006 when he cut such a sullen figure after being told by Moyes he was not being offered another contract.

He had scored just once in another injury and suspension-interrupted season. That goal, his last of 72 in a blue shirt, was scored with his final touch of his career, after his scuffed penalty was saved by West Bromwich Albion keeper Tomasz Kuszczak. Ferguson managed to convert the rebound for a 2-2 draw.

Early the following week, Moyes gave the then 34-year-old the bad news. He was out after ten years and two different spells at the club.

The manager offered him his hand. An offended Ferguson, who later admitted he was bereft of ideas about what to do next, rejected Moyes’ handshake and was next spotted in Majorca, where he moved with his family.

Little was heard of him for five years, although he did make a rare return to be inducted as an Everton Giant at a swanky do before, remarkably, pitching