The absence of Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand from the latest England squad shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. His relationship with Roy Hodgson appears from the outside to be a frosty one, and understandably so. With Hodgson known to favour John Terry, it seemed unlikely that Ferdinand would be fast-tracked back into the line-up upon Terry’s retirement.
Nevertheless, we woke this morning to news that Hodgson supposedly foretold Ferdinand’s latest omission – and indeed hinted at the end of his England career – when questioned by supporters on their way to the Emirates for an Arsenal fixture on the London Underground.
According to reports, Hodgson was willing to simply answer the questions honestly (one has to wonder how Adrian Bevington feels about that), and his response was that Ferdinand is done as far as the England team is concerned. As quoted at Yahoo! Sport: “I have to say it is over for him and England. It has got to be the end of the road.”
The virtues of that viewpoint have been debated time and again, so I won’t revisit them, but this should be a shock to nobody. I’m also finding it difficult to be too bothered about the ease with which Hodgson apparently “revealed” this information. The Football Association might not be best pleased with him, but it’s not exactly leaving a laptop full of babies’ addresses.
(Photo via Paolo Camera via Flickr)
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Not just England rio should also end his career with man utd.