The Knives Are Out For Rio Ferdinand - Updated
This article has been updated since it appeared on 6 September.
Knives are being sharpened for Rio Ferdinand.
Quite unfairly, the player became the target of a media onslaught in the wake of England’s defeat by Germany last month. The United defender was singled out and accussed of slackness. It was said that the rise of Micah Richards meant that the 29 year old centre half was, for the first time in his career, playing for his place.
As England prepare for two crucial qualifiers against Israel and Russia, the anti-Ferdinand chatter continues.
On 7 September, the Telegraph’s Henry Winter wrote : “Some of England’s most ardent supporters are not overly enamoured with the London-born Manchester United defender, whom they perceive as being languid bordering on lackadaisical at times.”
By far the most lethal damage was inflicted by Mirror newspaper columnist Oliver Holt. He waded in with a lament of Rio’s failure to fulfill his destiny, denouncing the player as being “on his way out.”
“Whatever happened to Rio Ferdinand?” Holt began. “ Whatever happened to the stylish young defender who was going to break the mould?
“Where did the new Baresi go? Where’s the libero who was going to change the way England played? He’s still a fine player in many ways. He won a league winners’ medal with United last season after all. But he’s lost what made him special. He’s lost what made him different. The system chewed him up and spat him out as an Average Joe. He’s a stopper now.
“He was poor against Germany in England’s last game and even in United’s colours, he is looking increasingly slipshod.
“Ferdinand has got to the stage where he’s ripe for demotion. Once, it was a shock when he was dropped. Now it has got to the point where no one would be surprised if Micah Richards was moved into his England place once Gary Neville is fit at right back.”
There was more. Much more. The general thrust of the piece was that Ferdinand has been in the comfort zone since joining United and has not taken his talent to its ultimate destination. Now he must make way for others with more determination to succeed.
This seems harsh but does reflect the somewhat loveless relationship Ferdinand now appears to enjoy with the press and some United fans. If England need a scapegoat, look no further than a manager many suspect is out of his depth.
But that is an old whine, so the press are hunting fresh victims. Step forward Rio Ferdinand. Is it his football lapses or jealousy at a bling mighty that is to blame? Is it Rio’s self-confidence that gets up people’s noses? Was it the missed drugs test and the ban that led people to go off him? Could it be that he has run out of friends because of indiscretions, such as the time Rio was caught dining in a restaurant with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, when he was locked in contract renewal talks with United?
Ferdinand may not have begun the season in his best form. Falling over as Chelsea’s Florent Malouda ran past him to score in the Community Shield was embarrassing. Sun pundit Steven Howard as early as last May wondered whether Fergie might have to revisit the pairing of Ferdinand and Vidic if he was to conquer Europe. Few took him seriously.
They do now. Put simply, the coldness of the football press towards Ferdinand is sudden and brutal. The defender’s experience and success at club and international level is undeniable. He remains Britain’s most talented centre half, elegant and comfortable on the ball and is the lynchpin of the United defence. The dashing Micah Richards may excite the old hacks in the stands but anyone who witnessed the Arsenal game against City will understand that at 19 years old, the player is raw and needs fine tuning despite his many gifts. Ferdinand is a far more accomplished player.
Famously accused of being distracted, Ferdinand was the epitome of focus last season – the Celtic home match apart - as United stormed to the Premiership title, the FA Cup Final and the semi-finals of the Champions League. His pairing with Nemanja Vidic has finally given United a complementary and solid base at the back after the wilderness years which featured an ageing Larry White.
Telly pundit Alan Hansen told much of the story of United’s new defensive resolution last year, when he remarked that it was Rio that made Vidic look better and not the widely accepted notion that the big Serb was the key to United’s defensive resilience.
Like southpaw boxers, whose skill at avoiding concussive blows to the head is considered ratings poison by television promoters, Ferdinand might wonder if he is the Johnny Nelson of modern football. Is it all in his style? An England centre-half should look like Terry Butcher on the night when he was bloodied and banadaged for the national cause. A no-surrender clenched fist and a blood and iron doggedness are all that’s necessary to stir living room passions not the economy of effort and yes, concentration, which Ferdinand personifies.
The defender’s current troubles are the first time that he has been a media target in an international career stretching back eight years. Ferdinand has seen action in two world cups and the last European Championships and was rarely embarrassed. Indeed, United fans used to gripe that like Beckham, he performed better on the national stage than in Red.
Such is his success, that Ferdinand enjoys a higher profile than most Premiership stars. He was a prominent campaign tool in the Blair government’s bid to tackle inner city youth violence and was even cited as a “consultant” by then Home Secretary John Reid.
To his credit, Ferdinand has never shied away from his Peckham roots. His social engagement has been demonstrated repeatedly in his work for football anti-racism campaigns and his support of the parents of Damilola Taylor, murdered in a stairwell on Ferdinand’s old stamping ground. Few black players feel able or compelled to demonstrate such social awareness. Thierry Henry, for example, is hammered in France for his escape into the bourgeois lifestyle.
But admirable personal callings must be set aside. It is on the football pitch where Ferdinand will be judged. The player’s media critics will out in force on Saturday, ready to bury him for the slightest error. Rio has the class and the ability to shine. He needs to do so against Israel and Russia like never before.
(On Sep 7th, 2007 at 8:46 am)
He needs to do so like never before for United - never mind f…ing England. Still, a bit of an over-reaction from Holt, though he states the glaringly obvious, that Rio’s concentration takes a holiday too often for comfort and he could do with a bit more aggression instead of trying to look cool and in control when he isn’t, can you really take people like Holt seriously?