Duggie Ferguson Douglas William " Duggie " ' Crusher ' Ferguson was an ex - rugby league player who went into the printing business . He first came to Coronation Street after tracking his hairdressing son Tom down , though sadly Tom blamed his dad for his mother ' s death and didn ' t want him around . Duggie was really hurt and even bought into a local development on Victoria Street to be close to him ; though this didn ' t help matters and eventually Tom left town to Leeds leaving poor Duggie devastated . In late 1999 to early 2000 , Duggie turned property developer and employed Steve McDonald to build his Victoria Street complex , and he was indeed very proud when the complex was finished - with various units which involved Sally Webster and Danny Hargreaves renting one of the units , as well as Fred Elliott and Vikram Desai along with Steve McDonald who started up their own mini - cab firm . Early in 2000 , Duggie started a relationship with Debs Brownlow , sister of Rovers ' landlady Natalie Barnes . Debs had moved to Weatherfield to be near to sister after many years working on a cruise ship as a hairdresser . At first Duggie was unsure whether or not to start a new relationship after the death of his wife Laura , but Debs managed to help him overcome his emotional block concerning women , and the couple seemed happy until Duggie started to develop another property and tried to forcably evict tenants including Toyah Battersby and Phil Simmonds . Both felt that they had been treated badly by Duggie , especially by the way that Duggie employed Vinny Sorrell to throw Phil out of his own home . Simmonds went to the press about Duggie ' s illegal tactics which later caused Duggie ' s financial downfall , resulting in him selling his treasured home which he had shared with wife Laura . Businessman Dev Alahan bought Duggie ' s house for a quick sale , before putting it back on the market and making a tidy profit . Duggie was not pleased , and was forced to move into 6 Coronation Street with girlfriend Debs Brownlow . However this didn ' t work out as Duggie ended turning No . 6 into an office for his business contacts . Duggie and Debs ' relationship cracked which led Debs into an affair with Vinny - her sister ' s lover and Duggie ' s employee . Duggie was furious , especially as Vinny and Debs left town with £400 of rent money . In December 2000 , Natalie decided to sell up and get out of Weatherfield for a new life in the Cotswolds with her unborn child and the Rovers came under threat by the Boozy Chain , who planned to turn the pub into a ' fun pub ' named the Boozy Newt . Having been brought up in a pub , Duggie decided to step in and help the Rovers overcome its fate with the Boozy Chain . Due to recent financial trouble , Duggie couldn ' t buy the place on his own , so after asking Dev Alahan to invest into the Rovers , it was Fred Elliott and Mike Baldwin who came to the rescue , and invested into the Rovers alongside Duggie . Neither of the trio wanted to run the place , so they employed Liz McDonald to run the Rovers . Liz moved into the Rovers with resident barmaid Toyah Battersby ( after previous landlady Natalie had given her a room and a job after being evicted by Duggie ) , but her reign as manager was only short as after numerous disagreements with the trio , and husband Jim being transferred to a prison in Leicester , she quit the Rovers and Weatherfield to be with Jim . Mike ' s new wife Linda took the helm of the Rovers , but her heart was not in the Rovers , and in reality neither were Duggie ' s partners , and Duggie talked them into selling their shares of the Rovers at a cheap price to a ' mysterious owner ' - Duggie snapped up their shares and became sole owner of the Rovers . At the end of 2001 , the social club at Duggie ' s beloved Weatherfield Rugby Club came up for sale . Looking for a quick way to raise money , Duggie auctioned off the Rovers for £76 , 000 to Fred Elliott ( who had purchased it as a gift to his new wife Eve ) only to find he had been gazumped for the Rugby Club at the last minute by fellow ex - professional Marty Flynn . With time and money on his hands , he went into partnership with Richard Hillman , converting an old house - The Ridings into luxury flats . Duggie was determined to cut corners , preferably without Richard ' s knowledge . However Richard suspected this , and one night confronted Duggie at the development . Hoist by his own petard , Duggie leant over a bannister which collapsed , and he plunged two floors . The fall didn ' t kill him outright , but Richard chose to rifle through Duggie ' s pockets , take his keys and raid his safe , taking the cash from the sale of the Rovers , rather than summon help . Duggie was later found to have crawled to another room and died . His son Tom was too busy cutting hair on a cruise ship to attend his father ' s funeral .