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Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand defends Qatar trip

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments730

Rio Ferdinand

Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand has defended his decision to fly to Qatar to work as a television pundit for England's game against San Marino.external-link

The 34-year-old defender has been plagued by injuries over the past few years and withdrew from England's squad for their two World Cup qualifiers.

He said a "pre-planned programme" was his reason for pulling out.

"No different from what I did in the last 10 day international break...thank you guys," Ferdinand wrote on Twitter.external-link

Ferdinand, who has 81 caps, has attracted criticism for his decision to fly to Doha to be part of Al Jazeera's broadcast of the game.

"Haters are gonna hate...also assume everything...although it must be the gospel truth based on assumptions," Ferdinand added.

"I've flown out for some pre-planned downtime...with a bit of punditry thrown in for a game I would have watched anyway."

Ferdinand last played for England in June 2011, with England manager Roy Hodgson continually stating he was leaving Ferdinand out for "footballing reasons".

But he was given a route back into the set up by Hodgson last week

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730 comments

  • Comment posted by Needs More Zola, at 11:23 21 Mar 2013

    Surely the most shocking thing about this story is that someone has hired him to be a pundit

  • Comment posted by Andrew Henderson, at 11:47 21 Mar 2013

    So this is the true reason he's withdrawn from the England team. He'd rather earn a few grand extra than play for his country. After everything else he's done, he really is one of the worst role models in the history of football.

  • Comment posted by jarvish, at 11:41 21 Mar 2013

    @37

    Who mentioned JT?

    Ferdinand is a nasty piece of work - regardless of the England situation, look at his behaviour on the pitch (clapping in a ref's face) and off (idiotic tweets). Only a short-sighted Man U fan (which I guess you are looking at your username) would claim otherwise.

  • Comment posted by U15568941, at 11:26 21 Mar 2013

    Typical ManU player, thinks of himself 1st, club 2nd, and his country comes somewhere in 10th or 11th.

    Wouldn’t have wanted him with you in the trenches

  • Comment posted by jarvish, at 11:17 21 Mar 2013

    Nasty piece of work - would love to clap sarcastically right in his stupid face

  • Comment posted by User0758753155, at 11:21 21 Mar 2013

    Another interesting choice for the BBC to open the comments section for.

    In earnest, is there anywhere I can find or can anybody from the BBC explain the criteria used when making a decision on whether or not to open a comments section underneath a BBC website article? I'm not usually one to bang on about the interests of licence payers but I would genuinely like to understand the rationale here.

  • Comment posted by justanexperiment1, at 11:28 21 Mar 2013

    This guy is a massive joker innit bruv, ya get me blud?

  • Comment posted by User0758753155, at 11:39 21 Mar 2013

    I suppose the BBC shot itself in the foot; closed the 606 forum instead of regulating it effectively & managing the forum's scale more efficiently. Now people can vent too immediately directly under an article/headline that they may, or may not, have just read.

    What often comes from some is partisan idiocy that lowers the overall quality of conversation. Maybe this is just indicative of society.

  • Comment posted by User0169397628, at 11:32 21 Mar 2013

    So obviously a "pre-planned programme" involves a long haul flight to the Middle East. Why can't he just be honest and say he never had any intention of playing?

  • Comment posted by tezla, at 11:18 21 Mar 2013

    Not sure how we will get on the plane with that massive great chip on his shoulder. A very greedy man who cares about no one except himself and his bank balance. Get over it, your not that good and past your sell buy date.

  • Comment posted by cynicalbarsteward, at 11:34 21 Mar 2013

    Rio - what a tube! He hasn't done himself any favours has he? I hope this finally puts the nail in the coffin of his England career. Time to move on.
    Players like Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill and Joleon Lescott may not be as gifted as Rio once was - but they don't have his ego and baggage and you can be sure they would bust themselves to play for England and give 100% every time.

  • Comment posted by User0843952551, at 11:40 21 Mar 2013

    The guy's an utter clown, but this is such a pointless story.

    "haters are gonna hate"

    Only you Rio we old china, only you

  • Comment posted by User0297331367, at 11:22 21 Mar 2013

    Final nail in the coffin of his international career.

  • Comment posted by User0111140118, at 11:29 21 Mar 2013

    give the guy a break, theres no 'I' in Rio... oh, wait a minute...
    well, there'll be no Rio in Rio then.....

  • Comment posted by Simo429, at 11:56 21 Mar 2013

    Its time for the FA to come out and make a stand - Ferdinand should never play for England again, put it to bed and move on. He's made his decision, shame he is a lying coward rather than being a man though. Never had respect for him before, even less now.

  • Comment posted by User0658711572, at 11:29 21 Mar 2013

    So our poor Rio needs some pre-paned medical treatment. What better place to go than to travel in a plane for many hours with that persistant back problem that he is suffering from. He always tries to play the 'I am the best card' when he was left out by Roy but now Roy called his bluff and now we find the 'Great I am' is really just a bottler with no loyalty to anyone but himself.

  • Comment posted by BetterDeadThanRed, at 18:21 21 Mar 2013

    Rio's making such a scene over this whole England call up, he's literally acting like a teenage girl screaming for attention. He would have known about this trip to Qatar before his call up just like he would have known about his 'preplanned training program', he could have easily made all relevant parties aware of these issue before the call up instead of causing a scene, but that's the MUFC way.

  • Comment posted by User0369347419, at 12:31 21 Mar 2013

    Looks like that "pre-planned programme" he pulled out for was the Al-Jazeera version of Match of the Day...

  • Comment posted by A Revolution Is Required, at 12:15 21 Mar 2013

    To be honest I lost all respect for him when he ducked the drug test.

    What is more worrying is that an ageing 34 year-old with his best years behind him is being talked about as important to England's defence. Where is the emerging talent?

  • Comment posted by justanexperiment1, at 11:42 21 Mar 2013

    Let's hope he stays there

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