Moyes gave me the armband. It was his way of telling me I was done at Everton

BY DUNCAN FERGUSON

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I SWALLOWED my pride and called David Moyes. I had so much respect for him. Still do.

"I need to come and see you, gaffer. I want to go through a few things with you."

"Dunc, I've been waiting for this phone call for five years," he said.

There had been two fall-outs between us.

The first was when he told me that he wanted me out in 2003.

The second was around a day I'll never forget: May 7, 2006 - West Brom at Goodison.

I knew when Moyesy gave me the captaincy that day, that was it. The end. I never got told I was getting released before the game. It dawned on me on match-day.

"You're the captain, and there's your captain's armband," Moyes said to me when I walked in the changing room.

"I don't want the captain's armband."

"No, Dunc, I think you should take it."

I knew then. That was Moyes's way of telling me 'this is your last game'.

Look, I'm not really blaming David. I expected that to happen. As a footballer, it rarely ends in the way you want it to.