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 Fergusons 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 didnt need to. He called me in first thing and went absolutely
bananas. He said: What the hells going on?
He hammered me and quite rightly. I got the treatment.
Id never seen him so angry; it was far worse than when I missed
the drugs test. Much worse.
I couldnt say a lot because I was in the wrong. I just said again,
Boss, I dont 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 Im going
to sell you.
The meeting went on for 15 minutes and he was going: You know how
people will interpret it. It doesnt matter what you said.
It doesnt matter if you were talking about the price of milk, the
time of day or the colour of the table you were sitting at. Its
just so stupid of you to go there and meet Kenyon.
Once you walked into the restaurant and saw him there, you dont
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 Id forgotten the test and that I didnt talk to
Kenyon about joining Chelsea at dinner.
I can see its hard to believe, without me explaining it, but its
the truth. I didnt want to sign for anyone other than
United.
The trouble was, how could I prove that?
It didnt 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 Chelseas chief
executive.
I only had myself to blame though and all I could say to the
manager was that I hadnt spoken to anyone about going to Chelsea
or anywhere else and he had to take my word for that.
I dont 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. Id never had to
deal with anything like that before.
It wasnt something Id 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 couldnt 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 wont 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. Ive 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 wasnt 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 theyd gotten away with murder. I dont even know where
the losers medal is and I dont want to know.
The only bonus at the end of that trophy-less season was that I was
back playing football again.