![\"Duncan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Duncan-Ferguson.jpg\")
Duncan Ferguson pictured in the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool(Image: Iain Watts\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\nDuncan says he was “in shock” when their crimes came to light, after he only learned of them through a BBC Panorama special<\/p>\n
09:45, 04 May 2025Updated 09:47, 04 May 2025<\/p>\n
Duncan Ferguson pictured in the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool(Image: Iain Watts\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n
Everton legend Duncan Ferguson has spoken about a friendship which, unbeknown to him, turned out to be with drug bosses. The former forward admitted he had no clue until their crimes came to light.<\/p>\n
In May 2024 Ferguson<\/a> watched a Panorama show titled The Crime Bosses Who Terrorised a City.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI nearly dropped dead. I knew every one of them, I drank with every one of them, I played pool with every one of them. Some had been at my wedding.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all looked after me. They were my mates. I couldn\u2019t believe it when I saw the programme. I was in shock.”<\/p>\n Ferguson had no idea his pals were running the Huyton<\/a> Firm, serious players in the drugs underworld, reports the Mirror<\/a>. He said: \u201cWe just spoke about football. I never pried.<\/p>\n “They liked me. I was an Everton man, a star player. They were Everton fans and I was one of the lads, I fitted in.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point he was inseparable from Mark Quinn, a drug smuggler jailed for seven years in 2022 after being on the run. “He was tough, respected, feared but also generous, one of the few guys I had to constantly fight to pay a bill, and was good company,” says Ferguson.<\/p>\n “He was a big Blue and, at one point, we were inseparable. And I definitely felt I had a level of protection, as long as I never overstepped the mark, which I never did.<\/p>\n “We were a good group. We weren\u2019t bullies, we were loved. They never, ever tried to involve me in anything. They had too much respect for me.”<\/p>\n Ferguson admits, however: \u201cEventually I did become concerned. Especially after an incident where Mark, who had a neck like Mike Tyson, punched a doorman who\u2019d insulted him. I began thinking about the drinking, the bad situations it led me into. Mark changed that night, and I think I changed too. Where there\u2019s drink, there\u2019s trouble. I wished I\u2019d listened.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of Mark\u2019s mates came on my stag do in Benidorm in 1998. The police followed us to the airport. How we got into Spain, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n “Later on, after I\u2019d moved abroad and into coaching, I learned some of my mates ended up getting shot and killed. Some went to prison for supplying drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew they were up to no good but, Jesus, I never thought for one minute how heavy they were.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferguson was pictured next to the Huyton boys in police stations and his solicitors told him: \u201cDuncan, you need to get away from these people, your face is all over mugshots. Keep away from them. I wouldn\u2019t listen.<\/p>\n “Mark hitting that doorman was when I began thinking about the drinking, the bad situations it led me into. Mark changed that night, and I think I changed too. Where there\u2019s drink, there\u2019s trouble. I wished I\u2019d listened.”<\/p>\n Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography by Duncan Ferguson, with Henry Winter, is published on 8th May by Century<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duncan says he was “in shock” when their crimes came to light, after he only learned of them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36577,13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-73730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-duncan-ferguson","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114449347203341237","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_20-Mark-Quinn.jpg\")
Mark Quinn(Image: NCA)<\/p>\n