'Premier League's hardest player made my team-mate cry – it was the scariest thing I saw'

A Premier League star was once left crying in fear after getting on the wrong side of legendary hardman Duncan Ferguson during an innocent game of five-a-side

A football dubbed the ‘Premier League’s hardest-ever player’ once left a team-mate pleading for mercy following a training ground bust-up.

Target man Duncan Ferguson didn’t just strike fear into opposition defenders but also club-mates. While better known for his association with Everton, the Scottish striker also had a spell at Newcastle between 1998 and 2000, when he was a team-mate of Kieron Dyer, who has recounted a tale of Ferguson at his most menacing.

The incident started during what should have been mundane five-a-side at the end of a training session when Ferguson and Italian Alessandro Pistone exchanged words. Recalling the incident on the Open Goal Podcast, Dyer said: “We’re playing five-a-side and he’s got Pistone in his team.

“So he must have said something to Pistone, like ‘f****** stop giving the ball away’. And he [Pistone] was like ‘f*** you, Dunc’ or something like that.

“We’re two or three minutes from the end of the game and he’s just following Pistone everywhere like this [gives a stern face while looking from side to side]. He’s just watching him, not taking his eyes off him. Pistone’s not even taking notice.”

Pistone certainly noticed when Ferguson burst into the treatment room at the end of training. Dyer added: “Straight after training, I’ve gone in the physio room to take off some strapping. Pistone comes in, he’s on one bed, I’m on the other bed.

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“All of a sudden, the door gets kicked open and he’s like, ‘you, outside!’ Pistone starts to cry [saying], ‘no Dunc, no Dunc’.

“He said, ‘I’ll tell you one more time, outside or I’ll fill you in now’. He’s [Pistone] literally pleading for his life. I’ll never forget it.”

Ferguson eventually backed down while firing a word of warning. Dyer revealed: “Dunc says, ‘all right, I’ll give you this one but if you ever tell me to f*** off again, I will crack your f****** skull open’. And he just walked out.

“That was the most scary, menacing thing I have ever seen. I always say he’s the hardest man in football.”

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