'I filled him in!' - Duncan Ferguson reveals terrifying clash with burglars who tried to rob his home while his wife and child were asleep

Ferguson came face-to-face with burglars in his own home following a game against Watford in the FA Cup. Having returned home, the former striker chased one of the intruders out of the property, and left the other in such a state that he required an ambulance.

Ferguson's no-nonsense approach to intruders will come as little surprise to anyone who witnessed his aggressive style of play during his time in the Premier League. The Scot earned a reputation as one of the division's most fearsome competitors and was sent off no fewer than nine times.

Ferguson told Stick to Football: "I was lying on the couch because after a game, you can't sleep. Your adrenaline's pumping, we'd played Watford in the FA Cup. I had a funny feeling, these two guys are watching Match of the Day on the television or something, thinking I'm playing there. I think they were stoned or drunk, they must have been. I'm on my couch, it's quarter to one in the morning, I've got my tracksuit bottoms on, no top on, trainers there. I just heard something.

"I went like that, 'I just heard something there', I put my trainers on, they were right there, I was fit as a fiddle, pumped up from the game. I had a conservatory and I could see the two shadows walking through the conservatory. I heard this pounding in my chest. I was pumped up. I was thinking 'what do you do', obviously I was going to go forward, it's fight or flight. The fight one. I went forward and I didn't give the boys a chance, they never knew what hit them. I went after them. That was it, end of really."

He added: "One of them was too quick for me, he got away, but I got the other one. I couldn't get the two of them. One of them ran and left his mate, good pal, eh? Good partner in crime there! I filled him in. I gave him a bad one. I was pumped up, my wife's upstairs with a three-month old baby, she's shouting out of the window, she's hearing 'thud, thud, thud' and 'bang, bang, bang', and she's screaming 'f*cking hell, you're gonna f*cking kill him! Stop!' I had the mist. And you're looking down, and you think 'oh my god'.

"So the two options were phone my mates and drag him away and do whatever you're gonna do, but I thought that's probably not a good move or phone the police! We phoned the police and obviously got an ambulance at the same time."

Ferguson is not currently in work but is searching for a managerial job. He is a truly intimidating presence, and would surely remain so in the dugout.