RIO CASE HEARD TODAY

Rio’s case will be heard at the Reebok stadium in Bolton
this morning. The FA has explained how the process will
work.

1 - The hearing commences at 1100GMT at Bolton's Reebok
Stadium on Thursday, December 18.
2 - The independent three-man commission will be headed by
Barry Bright, Kent FA representative on the FA Council. None
of the commission are employed by the FA and none have been
involved in the gathering of evidence which forms the case
against Ferdinand.
3 - The FA's case against Ferdinand will be presented first.
It has been prepared by Steve Barrow, head of the FA's
compliance unit, and will be submitted by Mark Gay.
4 - Ferdinand's legal team, led by Ronald Thwaites, will
then make the case for the defence.
5 - The hearing can continue as late on Thursday and Friday
as the commission chooses.
6 - When the three men have heard the cases for both
prosecution and defence they will retire to consider their
verdict.
7 - When this is announced to the parties, Ferdinand's team
then has 14 days to appeal against any punishment.

Gordon Taylor has had a final pop at the FA before
everything begins:

“Any opportunity to deal with the matter objectively has
been lost. The whole thing is a complete mess and the FA
have put themselves into a very difficult position. On one
hand you have Sepp Blatter trying to make Rio out to be
public enemy number one, on the other you have the feeling
of the FA trying to stand up to Manchester United.

“I don't want to pre-judge the hearing but it appears the FA
feel they have to put a marker down. I believe they will
look to make Rio a scapegoat. If that happens, it would be
extremely unfair.''

Sepp Blatter also had one last point to make:

“If we condemn a player who has either refused or
miraculously forgotten to take a drugs test it is not FIFA
that is at fault. But those directly responsible for this
inexcusable omission and its aftermath, that is the
individual himself, his club, and the FA, which has not
swiftly enforced the laws on the suspension of players that
ought to be applied. If FIFA sees this sort of thing
happening, it is its duty to intervene.''

Something that is likely to upset Blatter further is the
fact that Ferdinand will have 14 days before his ban begins,
which will allow him to play through the Christmas period.
In fact his ban won’t begin until the transfer window opens.