Ferdinand in drugs controversy

sharkman · 06-10-2003 11:53pm #1

sharkman · 06-10-2003 11:56pm

yop · 07-10-2003 8:34am

ummmm, suspect, but then again I think it was the Sun who broke the news, bad news or maybe not!
He has not been playing well of late so he may have stepped over the line

SCULLY · 07-10-2003 8:40am

Seems to be much to do about nothing, according to Football365 :
http://www.football365.com/All_News/Breaking_News/story_84710.shtml

- and not a case of drug misuse as some headlines would have you believe. If he is deemed ineigible for the game on Saturday and England loose, we will never hear the end of it!

talla · 07-10-2003 9:13am

he could face a 2 year worldwide ban, heres hoping

SCULLY · 07-10-2003 9:37am

Sky have a breaking story that he has been axed for the Turkey game..
http://www.skynews.co.uk/skynews/article/0,,30000-1106302,00.html

Kone · 07-10-2003 9:51am

Oooooh!

and I just heard Collina is to ref the England - Turkey game, Sweet!

marct · 07-10-2003 10:29am

Lads I hate to alarm Utd fans but the rules are :
If Ferdinand did not provide a specimen within the time period specified, then he will be banned for the two years stated in the rules for International and Domestic competition.

Manchester United stated that a specimen was given 36 hours later. This cannot be true – the original specimen was requested at approximately midday. Therefore they are saying he gave a urine sample at 12 O’clock at night – unlikely – since no testing station would be set-up at that time.

This could get very messy and the Turkey game is the least of his worries. The powers that be are very unforgiving when it comes to the slightest transgression for this type of thing...Davids, Stam, Sheehan all had excuses which did them no good.

Johnny_the_fox · 07-10-2003 10:30am

He will probably get off with it.. and maybe just get a weeks fine....
especially with England’s big match on Saturday..

talla · 07-10-2003 10:31am

A lot of United fans are hoping he gets suspended, the team would be better off without him, hes just not good enough.

marct · 07-10-2003 10:32am

He was 30million quid for crying out loud- wanting him suspended is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!

talla · 07-10-2003 10:37am

He was overpriced, over hyped and always over rated. Look at his performances in the champions league, just doesnt cut it. Ferguson is stubborn, he very rarely likes to admit hes wrong, he wasted 30 million on Ferdinand and theres no way hes going to drop him.

marct · 07-10-2003 10:38am

Fair enough, if you want to write off 30m for two years go ahead..

talla · 07-10-2003 10:49am

Do you want me to as a United Fan i've confidence in him, i dont worry every single time he walks onto the pitch in a champions League match, that theres a mistake waiting to happen? Where he will lose his forward 3 or 4 tiimes against an average team and still wont learn his lesson. Against a team like Real MAdrid he is destroyed, Stutgart destroyed him last week(they are good solid team but not spectacular). Yes he will be missed in the short term, but in the long term United are a better team without him.

Johnny_the_fox · 07-10-2003 10:52am

Originally posted by talla
He was overpriced, over hyped and always over rated.

I dont think so...

the same thing that is happening to Ferdinand happened to Phil Babb.. he got a superstar status and lost his basic footballing sense.

p.pete · 07-10-2003 10:58am

Is this the chance that David May has been waiting for to break back into the United squad?

They're going to have to pay him big money to get him to return first though:D

p.pete · 07-10-2003 11:00am

Johnny the fox, you are comparing a 4m player with an 30m (?) player - how does that work?
Maybe it answers the overhyped part but he's still over priced...

The Muppet · 07-10-2003 11:02am

What ever about being over rated he was definitely over priced when you see what wood gate went for a few months later.

He has not been at his best of late but this story has probably played a part in that. I wouldnt have blame him for the stutgart loss. John O shea was just as much at fault and I rate him very highly overall.

talla · 07-10-2003 11:02am

Originally posted by Johnny_the_fox
I dont think so...

the same thing that is happening to Ferdinand happened to Phil Babb.. he got a superstar status and lost his basic footballing sense.

I watched Ferdinand for years and hes never been able to tackle properly, hes had no positional sense, he had raw talent and pottential. But at this stage in his career he should have turned that raw talent and pottential into something more concrete. Instead of improving as a player, he seems to be going backwards. Maybe its his attitude, I dont know. The one area of his game I thought was top notch was him bringing the ball out of defence or playing a long ball over the top for a striker the odd time. Now when he tries to bring the ball out of defence he loses it, he'll play a risky ball across the back 4 and it will be intercepted or he'll play a long ball to no one. He just doesnt know how to do the simple things.

marct · 07-10-2003 11:03am

Lads I dont think he is a great defender myself but look at this from a business point of view. He cost 30m bleedin' quid sterling. If that is written off for two years there will be major repercussions for a club even as rich as Utd..

talla · 07-10-2003 11:06am

Originally posted by The Muppet
I wouldnt have blame him for the stutgart loss. John O shea was just as much at fault and I rate him very highly overall.

How can you not blame him for the stuttgart loss???? 1st goal, lost his player(as usual), second goal lost his player, and then to round it all off he gave away a penno.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 07-10-2003 11:09am

So how are united going to wangle their way out of this one. It will take some major rule bending for him to be allowed to play on and if he does then how does that reflect on the FA and consequently UEFA.

talla · 07-10-2003 11:11am

Originally posted by marct
Lads I dont think he is a great defender myself but look at this from a business point of view. He cost 30m bleedin' quid sterling. If that is written off for two years there will be major repercussions for a club even as rich as Utd..

I agree with you totally there, on a financial sense it would have major reprocusions, even when he came back from suspension, his actual asset value will have dropped considerably. Unfortunately, im looking at this from a purely footballing point of view, I know im being a bit idealistic(its very hard to separate money and pure footballing ideas these days, but I just dont think United will ever win the Champions League again with Rio Ferdinand at the centre of defence.

p.pete · 07-10-2003 11:17am

In fairness to Ferdinand he is very capable of raising his came for big CL and international matches. Are all the manu supporters asleep this morning - it's surprising the lack of support Rio is getting!

talla · 07-10-2003 11:19am

Originally posted by p.pete
In fairness to Ferdinand he is very capable of raising his came for big CL and international matches. Are all the manu supporters asleep this morning - it's surprising the lack of support Rio is getting!

I am a Man Utd supporter, I consider myself a real supporter and not someone that just follows and believes all the hype about the team and its players.

Thanx 4 The Fish · 07-10-2003 11:20am

In all honsty pete, he has been very poor recently. Maybe they feel that, alot like Man U when he is in the squad, his defence is weak.

p.pete · 07-10-2003 11:27am

I agree that he has been poor lately (maybe it's the drugs?) and I think I said it on the "united united" thread. There are other defenders playing poorly in the league at the moment (SH for one) but that shouldn't detract completly from his worth (which obviously isn't 30m btw).

Maybe he needs to be played alongside a more mature CB, he's not the finished article yet. (how old is he btw?)

eirebhoy · 07-10-2003 11:31am

The two Irish horse owners (I forget there names) that own a percentage of United want to sell there shares because they are outraged at payin 30mil for Ferdinand.

talla · 07-10-2003 11:31am

hes either 25 or 27, cant exactly remember which

eirebhoy · 07-10-2003 11:32am

Originally posted by p.pete
(how old is he btw?)

just 24 i think.

bucks73 · 07-10-2003 11:33am

IMO he will receive only a rap on the knuckles and probably a fine.

The fact that a test took place 36 hours after the missed one and showed up negative proves no drugs were taken.

The punishment for a breach of the FAs rules on testing is anything up to a maximum of 2 years worldwide ban. If two years is suitable for a positive test or tampering with a test then the punishment for simply forgetting about a test can hardly include a ban.

As for his performances I believe United have the best defence in the Premier League at the moment as well as having the best last season. He wasnt totally at fault in Stuttgart either as other defenders were also caught out of position. Keane and Neville were also caught too high up the field when at least one of them should have been holding in midfield.

talla · 07-10-2003 11:42am

Hes a premiership defender, thats my whole point not good enough for Europe. And Bucks the reason he may have missed the test was because there may have been something in his sytem and those extra 36 hours gave his body the chance to get rid of the evidence. Not saying there was, but its something to consider.

GuanYin · 07-10-2003 11:56am

Its an interesting pickle. Allegedly, it has occured before and the players were fined and gave a sample immediately and nothing more was said and no players were named.

It seems here that Ferdinand was named before the FA made a statement, however it may have been guesswork on the medias part due to the delay of the england squad naming.

If infact it is as regular an occurance as the PFA claim, then once the matter has been clarified, he should be fined and nothing more said. However, if thereis something particularly different about this case, and it turns out to be more than just an oversight (ie. negligence on someones part) then he should probably be dealt with more harshly.

bucks73 · 07-10-2003 12:24pm

Originally posted by eireboy
The two Irish horse owners (I forget there names) that own a percentage of United want to sell there shares because they are outraged at payin 30mil for Ferdinand.

Eh...dont think so.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2003/1007/soccer/manutd.html

eirebhoy · 07-10-2003 12:56pm

Originally posted by bucks73
Eh...dont think so.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2003/1007/soccer/manutd.html

sorry I should have said wanted to sell their shares.

eirebhoy · 07-10-2003 1:04pm

Ferdinand is not in the England squad.

uberwolf · 07-10-2003 1:12pm

Originally posted by bucks73

The fact that a test took place 36 hours after the missed one and showed up negative proves no drugs were taken.

.

thats just not true. I'm a cyclist and unfortunately I'm well versed in what you can do and how you can get away with it, with the most upto date drugs they can't detect them, only detect the indicators which are effected by them. EPO the famous one, twenty mins notice and you could drop ur haemocrat level back down to legal rqrments. I'm not well versed in the most modern drugs but I'm sure parallels can be drawn and that 36hrs with modern medicine could be huge. Thats why not doing a test is considered a postive. And this only a month after hearing the FA chief giving yards about how tough they were on drugs and that they hadn't a prob. If cycling was rife in the 80's and 90's then football with the money involved has to be as well

gollem_1975 · 07-10-2003 1:33pm

he may have been taking some of the more common recreational substances .( e.g. charles or ebeneezer.) rather than performance enhancing drugs ( though after seeing him in the stuggart match he could probably do with some

BaZmO* · 07-10-2003 2:05pm

Originally posted by marct
Lads I dont think he is a great defender myself but look at this from a business point of view. He cost 30m bleedin' quid sterling. If that is written off for two years there will be major repercussions for a club even as rich as Utd..

Not neccessarily!

Veron - Bought for £28.1 2 years ago - Sold for £15 this year!!

B.

The Muppet · 07-10-2003 2:08pm

aparrently rio offered to take the test 2 hours after he should have but the testers had left.

Talla iI,m not saying rio was not a fault for the stutgard loss but others were equally at fault.

BaZmO* · 07-10-2003 2:12pm

Rio not named for Turkey match

Dustaz · 07-10-2003 8:14pm

The english league seems to have the worst drug testing regime of any sports body. Merson, Staam, and numerous others are proof of this.

Its an open secret that recreational drug use is rife within the football league and while Ive never heard of a performance enhancing drug problem (apart from ol' jaap), I simply cannot believe it doesnt exist.

To say that just because he passed 36 hours after he was supposed to take the test proves his innocence is total naiveity. There is a reason that drug testing should be random and instant.

AngelofFire · 07-10-2003 9:36pm

In fairness Dustaz i think the test was more to do with performance enhancing drugs rather than recreational ones.
I think ferdinand is telling the truth when he says that he genuinly forgot. i doubt he was trying to dodge the test. He came back 2 hrs later and offer to take it. If he was taking performance enhancers it would of taken a lot longer than two hours for them to wash out.

Man U were irresposible in the sense that they didnt take him to a hospital to do the tests after the Competition officials had left the training ground.

Brian O'Leary · 07-10-2003 9:47pm

Well,I said on my thread United United that Man u would win the treble.Great chance they have now.I mean Rio is still very young,24,same age as Wes Brown who Alex Ferguson thinks is very important to the future of United.If Wes is imprtant,then what is Rio?O.K. you'd have to blame him in Stuggart but give him time.When he is 28 he will be one of the best midfielders in the world!!!

Pepe LeFrits · 07-10-2003 10:17pm

Originally posted by Brian O'Leary
Well,I said on my thread United United that Man u would win the treble.Great chance they have now.I mean Rio is still very young,24,same age as Wes Brown who Alex Ferguson thinks is very important to the future of United.If Wes is imprtant,then what is Rio?O.K. you'd have to blame him in Stuggart but give him time.When he is 28 he will be one of the best midfielders in the world!!!

He's a defender.

AngelofFire, how does someone forget a drugs test, particularily when his teammates were going to it aswell? It'd be like forgetting he'd a match on.

Nike_Dude · 07-10-2003 10:37pm

The F.A will have to make an example out of Rio, even if its a 2 or 3 game ban. The rules are clear and it was only a few months ago that the FA were talking about tougher drugs testing etc. If ferdinand is let off this time because he was moving house, soon players will be skipping them because they had a photo shoot or interview to attend. The fact that other man utd players remembered to go doesnt look good for him either!!

BaZmO* · 08-10-2003 10:50am

Anybody hear Tony Cascarino’s comments about the Ferdinand incident on the English news yesterday???

"I can't understand how somebody can forget to give a sample in this day and age. I can understand how someone could forget to pay his or her gas, electric or phone bill but not a drugs test!!"

A bit cheeky coming from the man who forgot that he wasn’t actually Irish! Or his parents for that matter or even his Grandparents!!! Funny though!!!

B.

sharkman · 08-10-2003 11:29am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/3172568.stm

bucks73 · 08-10-2003 11:30am

IMO the FA will have to back down over this one as they leaked Ferdinands name to the media before charging him with anything.

He has been asked to attend an interview to explain why he missed the original test. There has been no charge made and no positive test.

The FA have in fact broken their own rules by making public Ferdinands name before any charges have been made and also omitting him from the England squad without any charges. A slap on the wrist for Rio with a fine.

bugler · 08-10-2003 1:26pm

Realistically, and of course I could be wrong and be smearing the poor chaps name unfairly, but it may well have been cocaine use. The fact that he took and passed a test a couple of days later makes it unlikely it was any of the several other recreational drugs. I wouldn't understand at all if someone like him would take performance enhancing drugs..you're rich, young, and playing for one of the worlds top clubs on a regular basis...why throw it all away?

Sounds like rich young man syndrome to me.

brucealmighty · 08-10-2003 6:38pm

Recently a Man city player was fined for exactly the same offence Ferdinand is being accused of. How come this is only coming to light now? Why does it appear is that ferdinand is receiving different treatment than the city player?

Ferdinand in drugs controversy

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