Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Rio Ferdinand wouldn’t have crossed Jock Stein

Post Thumbnail

THE fear factor is an important thing for a manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson has it, Jock Stein had it. Respectively, they are and were uncrossable.

Roy Hodgson, for all he’s a hugely respected figure in the game, doesn’t seem to have that ability to put the fear of God into players.

That, I’m sure, is part of the reason Rio Ferdinand felt able to pull out of the England squad the way he did last week.

Back when I was in the Scotland set-up, players wouldn’t have dared mess about the same way with Big Jock.

He was a disciplinarian with a short fuse and wouldn’t have stood for it.

You would have been hauled over the coals and that would have been your international chances done for.

Things are different these days, of course, but I think the way Rio has acted has been disappointing.

His decision to pull out of the England squad to face San Marino and Montenegro was nothing less than two fingers in the manager’s face and Roy Hodgson shouldn’t have to accept that. He’s a fair manager and a reasonable man and his conduct in the aftermath has spoken volumes.

Still, it’s too simple to say this is a case of one of England’s superstars taking advantage of Roy’s good nature. There’s far more to it than that.

Yes, Rio should have turned around when he was called up and said, “Thanks for inviting me back, but my body can’t take it.”

Then we wouldn’t have had any of this nonsense.

But his decision not to do that was personal and very deep-rooted.

What happened to Rio during the John Terry “racism” scandal was wrong. That he was dropped by England for so-called footballing reasons while Terry remained in the fold will probably hurt him forever. I’m sure it was in the back of his mind when he was recalled.

For all the talk of advice from medical specialists, I suspect that was the major factor behind his decision to pull out.

Why?

Because if Rio felt he was being welcomed back into the England set-up on merit, not just because injuries to other players meant he was no longer a dangerous option, I think he’d have ignored the docs and played anyway.

In a sense, I can sympathise, but I don’t think sticking two fingers up at the England manager in the way he has is a reasonable course of action.

And if Sir Alex Ferguson was in Hodgson’s place, I don’t think Rio would have dared go about things the way he did.