'Rio Ferdinand must have enjoyed yesterday a little less than his team-mates. As Manchester United cruised past a wretched Charlton side to retain their slim hopes of second place and build up nicely for a more testing FA Cup final, the defender was reminded he has other issues to think about. Anger among some United fans at his failure to sign his new contract came vividly to the fore.
A minority of the visiting supporters booed Ferdinand when he was on the ball in the opening half-hour and choruses of "Rio sign your deal" were audible in both halves. In the closing minutes there was even a more profane, if fainter, message for him.
Ferdinand was applauded at the end by most of United's followers, who chanted his name as he acknowledged them, but an earlier chorus of "Chelsea rent boy" was an unflattering reference by some to the England player after his well-publicised meeting with the Stamford Bridge chief executive Peter Kenyon.
Those fans, like the manager Sir Alex Ferguson, feel Ferdinand should commit himself to Old Trafford after being offered a big pay increase, especially as the club stood by him throughout his drug test debacle.
A chant of "Stevie Bruce" might have been a reminder to Ferdinand of the loyalty of one former United centre-back but antipathy towards him was by no means unanimous. Other fans chanted "Rio" loudly several times.
Ferguson, whose strong comments about the need for Ferdinand to sign his contract must have inflamed the fans, tried to calm matters afterwards. "We don't want to make a monster out of this thing," he told MUTV.
"You can maybe push the players into these things and you can make it worse. He knows we want him to sign and that is important, and he knows the fans want him to. So we don't want to be shoving the lad into something he is not sure about. If he's not sure then he should take time."