Walter Smith had Don Hutchison pinned to the Everton changing room wall - before handing him the captain's armband after stripping it off Duncan Ferguson. That's according to the former Scotland midfielder who has revealed the furious exchange that led to him taking the Goodison Park captaincy in 1999.
One of Scottish football's greatest ever managers, Smith was known for his ruthless brand of man-management. He feared no-one and even Ferguson, notorious for his fiery temper and hardman antics, didn't escape his fury after one Everton defeat.
Hutchison revealed Rangers hero Smith was left fuming at his side after a Premier League defeat and had him by the throat after he stood up to him after a post-match dressing down. But all was not as it seemed as Smith later lauded Hutchison for standing up to him. Ferguson though failed to do the same and after Smith's skipper didn't stick up for his teammate, he was mercilessly stripped of the armband.
Hutchison told ESPN: “We got beat and I didn’t do too bad in the game but we got booed off. Walter Smith was a great tester of men, he was a tester of characters to see who would buckle and would stand their ground.
“He came for me in the dressing room after the game and he gave me loads of manager verbal abuse and I took it and I took it and I took it until I snapped. Then I had a right good go at him and he got me by the throat against the wall and said ‘you’ll never play for this football club again, get your gear, get in the car and get yourself home’.
"So I’m standing in the shower, and this is all a test but I didn’t know this at the time. Archie Knox his number two comes in and said to me ‘are you okay?’. And I went ‘no’ and I was in a little bit of tears, I was gutted and he went ‘the gaffer wants to see you in the boot room afterwards, get your suit on and go and see the gaffer in the boot room’.
“So I get my suit and I go see Walter Smith and he goes ‘you alright?’ And I went ‘No, what was that about? Having a go at me, I didn’t play that bad.’ He went ‘do you think Duncan Ferguson is a hard man? Dave Watson? Dave Unsworth?’ I said ‘yeah’ and he went ‘Where were those three when I had you up against a wall?’
“He was testing us a group to see if we’d all stick together or if people would just their separate ways and look after yourself and the fact I stood up and then he said to me ‘you’ll be the new captain, I’m taking the armband off Duncan Ferguson’.
“Well let me tell you, that was an interesting week because I sat next to Duncan Ferguson every single day for a couple of years and that week was torture knowing, and Duncan knowing, that I took the armband off him. Such an Everton icon and such an unbelievable player and captain and for him to be demoted for me to take the armband off him wasn’t easy.”
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