when he launches his appeal today but senior figures at the
FA are adamant that the Manchester United and England
defender rejected his best chance of clemency in October. It
was then, in the unlikely setting of David Davies’s dining
room in the Midlands, that Ferdinand and his club made the
fateful decision to fight rather than to co-operate with the
FA.
‘As tea and biscuits were served at the home of Davies, the
FA’s executive director, on the afternoon of Sunday October
5, Ferdinand was accompanied by David Gill, the United chief
executive, and Maurice Watkins, a director and the club’s
lawyer. Nic Coward, the director of corporate and legal
affairs at the FA, was there to explain the seriousness of
Ferdinand’s offence.
‘The setting was unusual but so was Ferdinand’s misdemeanour
and, according to various sources inside Soho Square, the FA
was happy to guide the player on the best way forward. It
was still 24 hours before the story was to break in the
newspapers and the FA is adamant that it had no desire — at
least at that point — to turn the case into a cause célèbre.
‘Coward and Davies made it clear to Ferdinand and United
that he would not be picked for England’s European
Championship qualifying match against Turkey the following
week, but the FA is adamant that, far from seeking a fight
with one of the country’s most admired football players, it
was offering helpful advice.
‘There was no plea bargaining but, given that Ferdinand
could not dispute that he had failed to give a sample when
the UK Sport testers called at United’s training ground on
September 23, he was advised to have his first informal
hearing immediately, plead guilty and present any mitigating
evidence. If he had done so, the whole affair could have
been wrapped up in a few weeks and it is quite possible that
he would have been banned for a maximum of three months,
according to sources close to the case.
‘For reasons that they must now regret, the United
contingent decided that they had nothing to gain from
rushing through the process. With an arrogance that is both
the great strength and weakness of Sir Alex Ferguson’s
regime, they had already convinced themselves that they were
the wronged party: that the UK Sport testers had gone home
too early, that the player was being pre-judged and that the
FA was betraying Ferdinand’s anonymity by dropping him
against Turkey. His international team-mates threatened to
go on strike a few days later to register their outrage.
‘If it was possible to have some sympathy at the time, the
subsequent management by United has become a textbook
example of how not to handle a legal defence. Having decided
at Davies’s house that they would fight the FA, United have
done nothing but drag their heels and rail against imaginary
injustices.
‘It has led to the extraordinary situation where they are
trying to quash a ban that Ferdinand has already voluntarily
started serving. The defender could have played for the past
couple of months but, in the vain hope that he might still
make it to the European Championship finals this summer, he
opted to begin his punishment in January despite the
devastating effects his absence has caused to his team.’