From The Independent:
The Football Association will tighten up their drug-testing procedures to ensure there can be no repetition of the farce of Rio Ferdinand's "forgotten" test that led to his exclusion from yesterday's match in Istanbul. A policy of "man-marking" as practised in other sports is likely to be introduced, so there is no possibility of a chosen player slipping away before he has given a urine sample. But mitigating factors in the Ferdinand case, including the precedent set in similar instances with other footballers, may mean that he escapes with a fine or minimal suspension.
The usual policy at present for testing on non-match days is that an independent sampling officer, appointed by UK Sport's Anti-Doping Directorate, and a Football Association supervising officer, turn up unannounced and select three or four players, whose names are communicated via a doctor or other club official. Those players are allowed "reasonable time to complete any activity in which they are engaged" like training, showering or media interviews but should begin the test within an hour.
During that period, however, neither of the officers stays with them, as is the case with sports like athletics. Manchester United, at whose Carrington training ground Ferdinand was supposed to be tested on 23 September, accept that procedures were inadequate that day and need to be tightened.
That point was emphasised in a letter to the FA's chief executive, Mark Palios, from Richard Caborn, the Sports Minister, who wrote: "The incident does seem to have thrown up an anomaly in the Association's doping procedures, which puts football out of line with other sports. It may be that the insistence on dealing with club doctors and not directly with the athletes has created an extra level of bureaucracy which may have contributed to the confusion in this case. I would be grateful if you would look at this issue."