da prosport bet： Despite Andy Carroll’s impressive season for Newcastle, one can’t help but draw comparisons between himself and another fiery ex-Newcastle striker, Duncan Ferguson.
da bet7： Both are players are strong target men that often spearhead attacks bringing other individuals into play; they’re only separated by an inch in height, with Ferguson standing at 6’4 and Carroll standing at 6’5. However Carroll may end up being a more prolific scorer than Ferguson as he has scored 23 goals in 82 games for Newcastle at just 21 years of age.
Newcastle manger, Chris Hughton has recently sung Carroll’s praises, saying of the big striker: “He’s a player that has a wonderful leap. He is a very good technical header of the ball. He’s an old style centre-forward, going back to the 60s and 70s. He’s a real classic striker in the old fashioned mould and he’s only a young player with the ability to develop his game. It’s a bit like Peter Crouch. He’s probably four inches taller but they’re similar – if the quality of the ball is good enough and the trajectory is right then it’s just a question of whether he can get it on target.
What he has proved is that when he gets the right delivery, he’s a very good header of the ball.”
Duncan Ferguson, despite not being overly prolific in his career he was always a handful for defenders and if they switched off playing against him then he had the ability to punish them. Always a committed player, Ferguson has the joint-record for the most Premiership red cards with eight along with Patrick Vieira and Richard Dunne. Carroll has only received one red card to date whilst playing on loan at Preston North End.
Despite his often tenacious approach, the great Sir Bobby Robson admired Ferguson’s talents, even going as far to call him a unique striker at the time, he said of the striker: “Scotland could do with him, you haven’t got anybody up there like him. Hey, we haven’t got anybody down here like him. Kevin Phillips is not like him, Andy Cole is not like him, Teddy Sheringham is not like him.”
Not only are Carroll and Ferguson similar players on the pitch, but they also unfortunately seem to have the same characteristics off it. Ferguson has had four convictions for assault; he confronted two burglars who broke into his home. Also whilst playing for Everton he got into an altercation with Pascal Chimbonda, who was playing for Wigan at the time and Paul Scharner which resulted in Ferguson receiving a seven-match-ban!
Andy Carroll nearly has as bad a history as Ferguson at just 21! In September 2008 he was arrested by police, who were responding to a report that a woman had been assaulted. Three months later he was arrested, having been accused of smashing a glass in a man’s face. He also seems to like getting into fights with his own team mates, last season he got into a training ground fight with Charles N’Zogbia over a late tackle from the Frenchman. Then just last month he clashed with Steven Taylor, which resulted in the 24-year-old defender suffering a broken jaw and leaving Carroll with a broken hand.
One thing is for sure that despite Ferguson being a talented player he definitely has a reputation of being one of the thugs of the game. Carroll unless he changes his attitude will soon be remembered for the same reasons, which is a shame considering the talent he has shown at such a young age. Hopefully his misdemeanours won’t prevent him from fulfilling his undoubted potential.
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