RIO FERDINAND

• zocoss

  19 Sep 06, 11:17

  RIO FERDINAND thought he had survived one of the worst moments of his career when he returned to play for Manchester United after an eight-month suspension for missing a drugs test in 2003.
  
  At the beginning of 2004 he was back in Alex FergusonÂ’s team, playing well and he had begun talking to Manchester United about a new contract. Life was good again.
  
  In an extract from his explosive new book RIO MY STORY, however, Ferdinand reveals that he feared his United career was over after being pictured leaving a London bar with his agent Pini Zahavi with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon in the background.
  
  I FEARED the worst when the picture was in the papers and decided that I would go and see the manager when I arrived for training and explain.
  
  I didn’t need to. He called me in first thing and went absolutely bananas. He said: “What the hell’s going on?”
  
  He hammered me and quite rightly. I got the treatment.
  
  IÂ’d never seen him so angry; it was far worse than when I missed the drugs test. Much worse.
  
  I couldn’t say a lot because I was in the wrong. I just said again, “Boss, I don’t want to sign for nobody. I want to sign for Man United. I told you at the beginning I want to sign for United.”
  
  For a moment I was worried he was going to say, “B******s I’m going to sell you.”
  
  The meeting went on for 15 minutes and he was going: “You know how people will interpret it. It doesn’t matter what you said.
  
  “It doesn’t matter if you were talking about the price of milk, the time of day or the colour of the table you were sitting at. It’s just so stupid of you to go there and meet Kenyon.
  
  “Once you walked into the restaurant and saw him there, you don’t sit down, you go straight back out again.”
  
  I knew the general public were not going to give me the benefit of the doubt over this one because of how I had explained my missed drugs test.
  
  First I said IÂ’d forgotten the test and that I didnÂ’t talk to Kenyon about joining Chelsea at dinner.
  
  I can see itÂ’s hard to believe, without me explaining it, but itÂ’s the truth. I didnÂ’t want to sign for anyone other than United.
  
  The trouble was, how could I prove that?
  
  It didnÂ’t help that the meeting had come after we had suffered a c**p defeat at Norwich either.
  
  Beaten by a team we should have been able to put away and then, there I was straight afterwards with ChelseaÂ’s chief executive.
  
  I only had myself to blame though and all I could say to the manager was that I hadnÂ’t spoken to anyone about going to Chelsea or anywhere else and he had to take my word for that.
  
  I donÂ’t know if he believed me or not.
  
  Soon after, in a game at Charlton, I was booed by the travelling United fans and it was an horrendous experience. IÂ’d never had to deal with anything like that before.
  
  It wasn’t something I’d expected. All I kept hearing was “F*** off Rio.”
  
  I understood they were doing it because of what was being said in the Press about the meeting with Kenyon.
  
  What made it worse was that it was not long after the news about Chelsea supposedly having a meeting with Ashley Cole.
  
  Not only were the papers saying that I wanted to go to Chelsea, which was rubbish, but also that I should sign the new contract with United straight away because the club had backed me over the missed drugs test. But everyone has a right to negotiate.
  
  When I walked off I clapped the fans but they booed me even more.
  
  It was a sign of things to come and an uneasy relationship developed between me and the fans which went on for quite a while.
  
  I was naive. I couldnÂ’t believe anyone would think I would be organising a move to Chelsea over dinner and drinks in a packed restaurant and bar.
  
  Sometimes you allow yourself to trust in the system and hope that people wonÂ’t interpret incidents in a certain way. But often they do.
  
  I understand why the public thought there might have been something in it and it was definitely a mistake on my part. I should have left when I saw Kenyon there.
  
  I got on with the season and we reached the FA Cup final. We pummelled Arsenal. IÂ’ve never seen them play so defensively.
  
  We hit the post, the crossbar, had shots off the line, everything.
  
  Rooney and Ronaldo were on fire but it wasnÂ’t our day.
  
  It was my first FA Cup final and it left a bitter taste in my mouth when Arsenal lifted that cup.
  
  They knew theyÂ’d gotten away with murder. I donÂ’t even know where the losersÂ’ medal is and I donÂ’t want to know.
  
  The only bonus at the end of that trophy-less season was that I was back playing football again.
  
  
• zocoss

  19 Sep 06, 11:23

  Chelsea tried to tapped up Ferdinand the same way they used to tapped up Ashley Cole from Arsenal.
• red_amoeba

  19 Sep 06, 11:33

  perhaps he is lamenting that Chelsea din move fwd with signing him. ~ after receiving the ban, I think Chelsea also backed off,...
• zocoss

  19 Sep 06, 12:25

  Originally posted by red_amoeba:

  perhaps he is lamenting that Chelsea din move fwd with signing him. ~ after receiving the ban, I think Chelsea also backed off,...

  No, he wasn't interested in joining chelsea. He just went to the place for dinner with his agent then he saw Kenyon there. Same way they used to tap up A Cole. He was just being polite as he knew Kenyon but he was naive. As he said "I couldnÂ’t believe anyone would think I would be organising a move to Chelsea over dinner and drinks in a packed restaurant and bar."
• ghimpheng

  19 Sep 06, 17:28

  Man Utd's Rio: I was a fool
  tribalfooball.com - September 18, 2006
  
  Rio Ferdinand has admitted he was a 'fool' to miss the drugs test which ultimately cost the England international an eight-month suspension from the game.
  
  The Manchester United man missed Euro 2004 after missing the test in September 2003, and it is an episode that clearly still rankles with the player.
  
  Ferdinand admits it was a mistake not to take the test - after claiming famously that he was spending the day shopping.
  
  "I was a fool, I made a mistake. I tried to rectify it and rang the FA but I couldn't get through to anyone. I took a test two days later and was clear," said Ferdinand, in an extract from his forthcoming autobiography, Rio: My Story, published in The Sun.
  
  "I didn't cry, I still thought I could play football. I don't want sympathy, I just want people to understand the truth of what happened
• Agenda

  19 Sep 06, 17:45

  Ferdinand should be scared now, Woodgate is showing great form at Boro
• Nigel009

  19 Sep 06, 18:19

  Ferdinand: I was a fool
  By Chris Stanton - Created on 18 Sep 2006
  UNITED IN EUROPE
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  Rio Ferdinand
  Rio Ferdinand has admitted he was a 'fool' to miss the drugs test which ultimately cost the England international an eight-month suspension from the game.
  
  The Manchester United man missed Euro 2004 after missing the test in September 2003, and it is an episode that clearly still rankles with the player.
  
  Ferdinand was delighted to be publicly exonerated two days later, but admits it was a mistake not to take the test - after claiming famously that he was spending the day shopping.
  
  "I was a fool, I made a mistake. I tried to rectify it and rang the FA but I couldn't get through to anyone. I took a test two days later and was clear," said Ferdinand, in an extract from his forthcoming autobiography, Rio: My Story, published in the Sun.
  
  "I didn't cry, I still thought I could play football. I don't want sympathy, I just want people to understand the truth of what happened."
  
  Ferdinand also shed light on England's World Cup preparations, with the defender admitting they may have been hampered by the proliferation of players' wives and girlfriends at this past summer's tournament.
  
  "A lot of the players, like me, thought it was good to have families there. But towards the end the mood changed. Some of us were saying having them so near wasn't such a great idea," said Ferdinand.
  
  "If it was up to me in 2010, which it wonÂ’t be, then I would put it down to a players' vote. I would be voting against having the families so close.
  
  "They could maybe come for a visit after the first three games, stay for one night, then go to their base in another part of the country.
  
  "Unfortunately the World Cup will be remembered in England more for the WAGS than for what the players did on the pitch."
  
• dinky1409

  20 Sep 06, 15:46

  Ferdinand is too casual sometimes but he is not too bad at defending..