Ally McCoist had no doubts naming the only player who rivals Duncan Ferguson for hardest man in football

Ally McCoist has ranked a selection of the Premier League's hardest ever players in a game of knockout, with Duncan Ferguson edging out another former Rangers teammate in the overall standings.

Ferguson is widely regarded as the hardest player to ever grace England and Scotland's top flight.

In fact, the former striker became the first and only professional player in Britain to be jailed for an on-field offence, when he landed a headbutt on defender John McStay during a clash between Rangers and Raith Rovers in 1994.

As well as being banned for 12 games by the Scottish Football Association, he served 44 days in the city's Barlinnie prison before being released.

Speaking to Everton fan channel Toffee TV in 2019, Ferguson opened up on the incident. "It was wrong me being there, it wasn't fair," he said. "I shouldn't have been in there and I think a lot of people understood that. It's not as if I was in for doing anything bad really. My God, it was nothing."

Ferguson added: "The fans got me through it, a lot of them wrote to me. It was unbelievable all the letters and the support that I got."

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, former Rangers striker McCoist was asked to rank a selection of the Premier League's hardest ever players in a game of knockout.

Firstly, he barely hesitated when picking former teammate Duncan Ferguson over Roy Keane.

The much-loved commentator and pundit proceeded to choose another former Rangers teammate, Graeme Souness, over ex-Wimbledon, Leeds and Sheffield United midfielder Vinnie Jones.

Stuart Pearce and Jaap Stam were then given the nod over Eric Cantona and Patrick Vieira respectively but it was the battle between Ferguson and Souness that gave him the biggest headache.

McCoist proceeded to slap his hand before saying Ferguson. He added: "Ferguson's won it. I played with him and Graeme. Two of them were tough as nails. But I'm giving it to Fergie. He was the toughest player I played with."

Souness and McCoist during their time at Rangers. Image credit: Getty

One thing is for sure, though - you should never get on the wrong side of Graeme Souness. A few years back, McCoist says he once wound up Souness so much he thought the former Liverpool midfielder was going to kill him.

“I wish a had a pound for every time Graeme was going to kill me, and I mean literally kill me, man,” McCoist said on the talkSPORT Breakfast show.

“We played a game at Parkhead and we got beat 2-0, I think Frank McAvennie scored two goals, Graeme was player-manager at the time and he came in [to the dressing room] and I can see he’s raging.

“He’s absolutely raging, he’s been through everybody and he’s turned to me and got his finger right in my face and he says: ‘You are a DISGRACE! You are this, you are that…’

“He says: ‘You were the WORST PLAYER, the worst player on that park today’.

“I can feel my wee teammate Durranty [Ian Durrant] nudging me just to say: ‘Shut up, don’t say anything, just take it’. But I couldnae stop myself.

“I’m sitting there shaking my head, right, I wouldnae open my mouth, I was just sitting there shaking my head and of course he’s got to come back to me.

“He says: ‘You’re shaking your head? YOU’RE SHAKING YOUR HEAD?!’

“And I said: ‘That’s right, I am shaking my head, because I wasnae the worst player, YOU were!’ And I pointed right at him.

“Well, there was about four other players all holding him back, he was gonna kill me!

“I swear to God, his face went scarlet, he was trying to swing for me and I’m just sitting there undoing my boots like, ‘la la la-la la-la la’!

“As much as I love him,” McCoist added, “Graeme would have killed me in that dressing room if he had the opportunity.”