Everton hero Duncan Ferguson was sentenced to three months at the infamous Barlinnie prison in Glasgow for an on-field offence when he headbutted an opponent in 1994.
Ferguson played over 100 times for the club, scoring 42 goals, as he established himself as a legendary figure. Speaking to BBC Sport, Rooney has admitted that he looked up to the former Everton man and even wrote to him while he was locked up.
"There was a guy who played for Everton, and he actually went to jail. And I was a young boy who supports Everton, so I used to write to him in jail and then he’d write back. And then, four years later, I played alongside him. So for me that was the biggest thing. It was just me telling him how much I love him."
"There’s so many and like Ronaldo, R9, for me as well. Just watching him play was incredible. He was like my favourite player, really."
In total, he was sentenced to three months in jail, with the prison sentence being Ferguson’s third conviction for assault. In ‘Big Dunc: The Upfront Autobiography by Duncan Ferguson, with Henry Winter’, Ferguson wrote:
“What got me through the long, lonely nights in Barlinnie was that I must have received 10,000 letters. Incredible. I killed time reading them all. Fans wishing me well and, yes, some expressing rather different sentiments.
"A young boy called Wayne Rooney wrote. He must have been only nine or 10. I wrote him back, without a clue who this passionate football fan would turn out to become. (Apparently, Wayne still has the letter today.)