SIXTY MILLION

The programme cover announced that the main purpose of this match was to celebrate Mel Machin's testimonial, but no one, including the guest of honour, was fooled. The truth is that the star of the show was a young visitor with 16 on his back.

Rio Ferdinand did not even start, and yet all eyes were on him from the minute he stepped out to warm up with the rest of this makeshift Manchester United team which also included Juan Sebastian Veron, Ryan Giggs and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And the interest in Rio was not just restricted to the 8,500 supporters packed into Bournemouth's ground, or indeed the unusually busy press box.

This pre-season friendly of little sporting significance was beamed lived on MUTV across the world, with China among the countries that transmitted the match. All in all, a global audience of 60 million were thought to have tuned in for Rio's bow. Sixty million people, therefore, who will have paid a fee to watch 90 minutes of non-competitive football, 20 minutes of which included Rio. Suddenly, the £30 million transfer fee and reported £70,000 per week in wages do not look quite so daunting.