Ferguson’s reputation at Goodison was largely built on his performances in high-profile encounters against their rivals, notably Liverpool and Manchester United, and Sharp acknowledges that there were few better forwards in the game than Ferguson when he was ‘in the mood’.

He said: “When Duncan fancied it against the big teams he could be almost unplayable but unfortunately we didn’t see enough of that.

“From the word go he’d be a real handful and defenders would be thinking ‘oh no, we’ve got to face Big Dunc today.’

He had a decent touch, was great in the air and was no slouch when it came to pace but great players are known as such because of their consistency and because Duncan was hampered by injury towards the end of his career he wasn’t the player he once was and you get the feeling we never saw the best of him.”

Despite his hell-raising image on the pitch, away from football there was a more compassionate side to Ferguson that his adoring public knew little about.

Sharp said: “The fact that he very rarely spoke to the Press and gave interviews kind of added to his mystique.

“The fans didn’t hear his voice or read about his views but he was involved in lots of off-the-field activities that he didn’t want to be publicised.

“He did a lot of good things and was a great supporter of local charities but he didn’t like to talk about that either.”