Reformed Scots gangster Ian ‘Blink’ MacDonald has challenged Paul Ferris to a "showdown at the Ponderosa" in a bid to end their 21 year gangland feud.
The convicted bank robber gatecrashed the stage at a live event held by notorious Ferris and podcast host James English in Glasgow last month.
The 61-year-old spoke to the Daily Record after failing to hear from his former pal despite receiving a ‘dummy handshake’ from him in front of the cheering crowd at the Crown Plaza Hotel.
The duo are said to have fallen out in a row over money and have been embroiled in a war of words for more than two decades.
MacDonald, who has his own YouTube channel ‘Blink and you’ll miss it’, said: “I went up and shook his hand, I praised him and everything. Now I’m asking myself if I did the right thing.
“Over the last couple of weeks since the dummy handshake, he’s never made a move to talk to me since.
“I felt like throwing him and English off the stage because they were that boring and I’d have taken over the show with my stories.
“Cause his stories are a pile of s***, talking about politics and all of that. I’d give the real deal. But he’s playing silly little games just now on his Twitter and it’s coming onto my channel.
“So I’ve issued him a challenge and said why don’t we have a sit down with a cup of tea and I'll supply the chocolate biscuits. But you bring the milk.
“I said, you’re the wee man but I was the bigger man on the stage that night. I want to challenge you to come on my channel because you’re still saying there’s issues.
“I can answer all your issues so be the wee man and I’ll be the big man and we’ll get it sorted. Let’s have a showdown at the Ponderosa.”
MacDonald claims he decided to storm the stage on March 26 in a bid to end their long-running feud but felt snubbed after allegedly being denied tickets.
He explained: “I wasn't given tickets for the event but I think they were expecting me to come.
“So I got tickets on the Friday night from Facebook with a different name on it. There were six of us. We only paid £50 - we never paid the £85 they were charging.
“We got in there at 7.30pm and Karen, James English's sister went ‘wow, how did you get in here?’.
“I thought they were going to tell us to leave but she just said ‘no drama?’ and asked to escort us into the arena but I said we’d stay at the bar for a bit.
“Within about three minutes, I had three photos with people. When I walked into the place there were about 500 people staring at me. We were moved to a table away from the stage.
“Within about 40 minutes, I gave nearly 40 photographs to people from Dundee, Belfast, all over the country. They all told me they wished I was up on the stage.
“I loved it. I was getting photos while Paul next door was charging £15 for a photo with a fan.
“I’ll looking at getting into live events shortly and I’ll put on a better show. Nobody is interviewing me. I’ll take the mic and I’ll tell them stories from all over.
“Trying to get a gun smuggled into Bristol court or that time at the Old Bailey or Danny Dyer running away. I’m open to any questions.”
Paul Ferris also told the Record: "Ian and I have a proposed podcast by Shaun Attwood to take place on the 12th June.
"I have other personal and business commitments until that date. Shaun will confirm the date and time we agreed on, which we agreed only last week.
"Can I make clear, I have no issues with Ian, and bemused as to why he felt unwelcome?
"I had family and friends at my event I haven't seen in 18 months therefore my time was given to them in a VIP section on the night.
"Perhaps Ian wasn't aware of this and possibly felt shaded as he wasn't on the VIP list.
"Ian didn't gate-crash the event, I was aware from security staff Ian was in attendance.
"Security did want to eject him but I felt he had already bought a ticket so should be entitled to be there. I have no issues with Ian."
We previously told how MacDonald claims Scotland’s most notorious gangland feud between Ferris and Arthur Thompson Senior began over a stolen drug stash.
MacDonald, who did time over a failed £6m bank heist, claims Ferris asked him to sell a massive batch of drugs which actually belonged to ‘The Godfather’ Thompson Snr.
The falling out sparked a number of brutal murders and attacks but Ferris has denied MacDonald’s claims.
Reformed gangster Ferris, 58, was found not guilty of killing Arthur ‘Fat Boy’ Thompson Jr after he was shot dead in 1991.
Thompson Snr also survived a separate attempt on his life after he was shot in the groin outside his home - "The Ponderosa" in Provanmill - in 1985.
He died from a heart attack in 1993, aged 61.
MacDonald and Ferris have both published books about their criminal past.
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