RIO MUST SHOULDER BLAME

Last updated : 19 March 2004 By Editor
Guardian:

‘There are times when silence is the most powerful form of
protest and it says much that, in a six-month saga that has
not reflected well on anyone, Roy Keane has not uttered a
single word in support of his colleague. How, realistically,
could he when Ferdinand has gone against all the principles
of professionalism and good order that Keane has tirelessly
preached to the pampered young millionaires with whom he
shares a dressing room?

‘Nobody from Old Trafford would break protocol, of course,
by publicly criticising Ferdinand but it would be stretching
the boundaries of logic after the wholly predictable outcome
of yesterday's appeal if there were not people at the club
appalled by the defender's buffoonery.

‘Ferguson is a fierce protector of his own but, deep down,
is he not at all angry with Ferdinand? Since the England
international defender was last seen on a football pitch,
away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on January 17, United's
season has all but disintegrated.

‘There is, of course, an FA Cup semi-final to come against
Arsenal but Keane has already described it as feeling like
nothing more than a "consolation prize". He, like everyone
else at England's biggest club, is entitled to resent the
world's most expensive defender rather than sympathise with
him.’

Times:

‘No one except Rio Ferdinand himself knows for certain why
he drove out of the Manchester United training ground in
September without providing a urine sample. While ratifying
the eight-month ban yesterday, the appeal panel “discounted
the possibility that Mr Ferdinand’s reasons for not taking
the test were drugs related”, but how can they be so sure?

‘Rumours have circulated, from the highly libellous to the
unsubstantiated suggestion that he was trying to cover up an
embarrassing illness, ever since the story broke. Despite
being seen shopping on the afternoon that he was meant to be
peeing into a bottle, the defender himself had pleaded
forgetfulness and preoccupation with a house move.

‘For Ferdinand, there is a long time now to reflect on the
personal lessons. A worrying memory is the pictures of him
emerging from a London nightclub on the eve of his first
hearing in December. He may not have touched a drop of
alcohol but, in such an important week, it hardly conveyed
the image of a man determined to rebuild his career.’