Duncan Ferguson has been a breath of fresh air from football’s bullshit I often wonder if there’s too much coaching in the game and the interim Everton boss has been a good reminder that it’s about enjoyment too

Whatever happens to Everton under Carlo Ancelotti, I have to say that Duncan Ferguson, my old team-mate, has been a breath of fresh air since taking caretaker charge at Goodison Park. People in the past might have laughed at the thought of Duncan going into management but you can’t play at his level and destroy defences like he did if you’ve only got brawn. In the past two matches he’s showed not just passion but that he’s a deeper thinker than he’s given credit for.

Football is about players and Duncan has showed he wants them to be what they are. I sometimes wonder whether there’s too much bullshit and too much coaching in football, and not enough emphasis on enjoyment. We get brainwashed into believing coaches have magic answers and it’s all about formations, but football is like any other work – it’s based on relationships and how we interact with other humans. Duncan interacts well with everybody – there’s no hidden agenda. He talks their language and doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. He’s not been scared to do simple things, though that’s not to say he can’t make a plan as well – in the draw at Manchester United on Sunday, for example, he wanted his team to play 15 yards deeper than they had against Chelsea and it worked, with Mason Holgate pushed into midfield.

The most important thing is he understands the club and he understands the people in a way the last four permanent managers haven’t. Look at Richarlison – suddenly he’s not falling on the floor as much. He’s getting up and battling back. Even Bernard made a tackle at Old Trafford. And for all the talk about his decision to take off his substitute, Moise Kean, I thought, “Great”. You hear criticism that a coach isn’t decisive but he showed he’s not scared to make a major decision in a major game against a major team. It reminded me of another Ferguson – Sir Alex. It doesn’t matter what it is, you’ll do it to get a result. Duncan’s not cared who he’s upset as for him the club is bigger than the players, whereas in the past some players there have had their own agenda.

A lot of Evertonians will be excited about Ancelotti coming in but for Duncan, I wonder what comes next. Does he see himself as a manager? Do the club? I understand they’re impressed and there’ll rightly be a place for him on Ancelotti’s coaching staff. This should mean no repeat of what happened to David Unsworth, caretaker manager two years ago, who was then basically shunned by Marco Silva. It takes a really confident coach to say, “Come on, Dunc, come and share this” – rather than “I’ve got my own team and I trust them” as most do – but then you do have the example of Ancelotti working closely with Ray Wilkins at Chelsea.

It’s great to see Duncan grafting hard as a coach because as a player he was like Frank Sinatra – he could play Vegas but not Coventry. He struggled a bit in the lesser games but when he got the buzz you couldn’t play against him. You might say he didn’t fulfil his talent entirely but the Scottish FA hurt him badly, emotionally and mentally, when he ended up in Barlinnie Prison for an on-field headbutt before he came south to Everton. They didn’t stick up for him and that was hard for him to take.

Overall, a lot’s been said about Duncan that’s completely false. Away from football, he’s quiet with a dry sense of humour and keeps himself to himself. He reminds me a bit of Mark Hughes, who was really quiet off the pitch. When we were at Everton together, you’d occasionally see him reading pigeon books. Everybody needs a balance and I suppose his pigeons were his way of keeping sane.

Duncan’s achievement in the past fortnight has been to bring an identity back to the club. Everybody in that ground for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Leicester will identify with Duncan and when could they last say that about a manager? Of course Everton haven’t been alone in this – look at Arsenal. They used to be about a good defence with talented players but what’s their identity now? Nothing. The problem is, we’ve been conned into thinking football’s got to be “nice” and played in a certain way. We’ve been conned that if you just play tippy-tappy football and have 1,000 passes it’s fantastic, but it’s not – it’s just boring the arse off everybody in the ground.

Why are Sheffield United doing so well? It’s because they close the ball down and they’re not afraid to graft. Now Duncan’s got Everton doing the same – in the opposition’s face, pressurising them and tackling them, and generally being aggressive in what they do. Like I said, a breath of fresh air.