World Cup qual. - Ferdinand: England were a circus

Eurosport - Wed, 15 Oct 13:26:00 2008

England defender Rio Ferdinand said the national team set-up was like a circus until the arrival of Italian Fabio Capello as manager in January.

2008 England Rio Ferdinand - 0

The Manchester United defender, who will captain his country against Belarus in the World Cup qualifier in Minsk as stand-in for the injured John Terry, said the players became obsessed by their celebrity lifestyles.

"I think we got caught up in all the hype," Ferdinand said. "We became celebrities in terms of the WAG (wives and girlfriends) situation. There was a big show around the England squad.

"It was like a theatre unfolding and football became a secondary element to the main event. We were caught in the bubble ourselves."

Ferdinand's claims focused mainly on the 2006 World Cup, when manager Sven-Goran Eriksson allowed the WAGs to stay near the team hotel in the German spa town of Baden-Baden.

"In Baden-Baden, there were paparazzi everywhere, our families were there. When you step back it was like a circus," Ferdinand said.

England lost in a penalty shoot-out to Portugal at the quarter-final stage in Germany following a goalless draw.

Ferdinand contrasted the freedom the players previously enjoyed with Capello's strict approach, which has included banning family, friends and agents from the team hotel.

"This is a very, very professional regime," Ferdinand added. "Very result-orientated, very much like a lot of our clubs. The results come a long way before the performances.

"You see how he (Capello) is on the training ground, in our meetings, that there's a winning mentality there."

England will try to make it four wins from four qualifiers in Belarus.

"This regime is very watertight. We have to take everything we can from the manager because of his vast experience," added Ferdinand. "If we can do that, England will go in the right direction.

"I don't want to speak too soon, but you can see that we're at the start of something and, hopefully, there will be bigger rewards than we have had in the past."

Reuters

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  1. You see, all premiership players are out of focus with the general public as they live completely different lives from the ordinary man in the working class slums of Britain. Rio Ferdinand might come across as a people person but in reality these are nothing but words coming out of that hole of his. He earns more a week than the average Brit could save from a lifetime of extremely hard and unlrelenting labour. Soccer players are not representing the people but only represent their bank accounts. People are so naive that they don't mind chucking every hard earned penny at those who cash in hundreds of thousands in a year. What a sad bunch. I really pity the lot of you.

    From sappercommando25, on Thu 16 Oct 1:46AM

  2. Rio would make a great captain, but you need to remember his past and all teh @#$% he done ect.

    Regardless he's a good leader, a great player and the teams played good as him captain. Well satisfactory.

    From ronnie n, on Thu 16 Oct 12:51AM

  3. WAG - Wife and girlfriends
    WAGer - player???
    WAGest - Fans who boos and Writer who just do not know how to give support

    From abeleekelate, on Wed 15 Oct 6:22PM

  4. its not just the wags .The english players are worse than their wag girlfriends .
    They are all a bunch of PREMADONNAS OR CRYBABIES who will never win anything until they stop crying.
    And yes I am talking about the players complaining about fans calling them names.

    Some players think they should be wrapped in cotton wool.
    Players like that will never win anything .

    From , on Wed 15 Oct 4:43PM

  5. To Think it's taken Rio almost 2 and a half years to work out what everyone knew at the time. The whole England set-up was an embarassment to the nation both on and off the pitch during the 2006 campaign and for Rio to come out and say all this now is an insult to every single England fan. It's comments like this that comfirm that today's English players are not on the same planet as the rest of us.

    From mandrob64@yahoo.co.uk, on Wed 15 Oct 4:22PM

  6. Rio's as thick as his lip

    From John, on Wed 15 Oct 4:07PM

  7. RIO for captain!!!!

    From WHitehartpunk, on Wed 15 Oct 3:42PM

  8. With this article, Rio will be permanent England captain.

    From abeleekelate, on Wed 15 Oct 3:34PM

  9. I hope England will do even better this time since, They have a new coach. Rio, you now have the chance to show your leadership role in this unique situation.

    Reuvic

    From reubenhar, on Wed 15 Oct 3:13PM

  10. Well said Rio...the circus wont be over till cappello sacks those clowns terry and gerrard!..and makes Rio the permenant captain!

    From stuartxland, on Wed 15 Oct 2:49PM

  11. Rio you've seen some sense now. You've hit the nail right on the head. Its about time the English national team drop the WAG nonsense and concentrate on the game. I failed to see the sense in sending wives and girlfriends to tournaments. In what way would their presence impact positvely on the team? Do soldiers take thier wives and girlfriends with them when they are going to war?

    From kwaku, on Wed 15 Oct 2:45PM

  12. Well said old Jack, at last some sense. We also need more laoyalty and give our guys support instead of slagging them off even when they do well. Every other nation gets behind their team. So why just leave it to the premiership, lets support our guys beacuse they are English and trying their best. I wonder which of you critics could get out there and score with all the negative reaction from the press and so-called English football supporters. Easy from the armchair, harder on the football ground under immense pressure!

    From glynisperfect@..., on Wed 15 Oct 2:03PM

  13. Ferdinand is right in some ways, but the REAL point is that the players were lacking professionalism in its entirety. Its about time YOU as the England players continue learning from Capello because the FA did the country no favours placing an inexperienced manager at this level in Mclaren as well as having no real structure. He was'nt to blame for not qualifying but he was out of his depth and this bizarre WAGor whatever you call it took over. Dicipline has always been Capello's strength and indeed in a class of children - it is up to the teacher to put things right. In this sense Fabio is like a deputy head.

    From Harry, on Wed 15 Oct 2:01PM

  14. OH PLEASE STOP CREEPING FERDINAND!!!!!!!!! YOUR ONLY TRYING TO SCORE POINTS WITH CAPELLO -CLOSE THAT RATHER OVERSIZED 'GOB' OF YOURS OR ELSE SOMETHING UNSAVOURY MIGHT GET IN THERE !!!!! A BOOT MAYBE PLENTY OF ROOM

    From Charleyd, on Wed 15 Oct 1:46PM

  15. all of you are 2 faced @#$%*ts,dzidzidzi32 you need to learn to spell before you critisise anyone,sappercommando you are a complete tos@*er,you hate the english so much,but I bet you fu@*ing live their don't you....I'm with old Jack,instead of thinking you know it all,stop slagging the team off and give them the unconditional support that the other teams get from their countries,,,,bunch of sh@thouses.

    From cain, on Wed 15 Oct 1:21PM

  16. why don't you look at the american football see how they deal with losers and babies....

    From battosai, on Wed 15 Oct 1:11PM

  17. Only people who support club sides that have no chance of winning a domestic competition care about international football. Internationals are dull 9 times out of 10 and the top club teams would beat any international team. So why so much interest in second rate football?

    From simon, on Wed 15 Oct 1:03PM

  18. shut up rio.! you g@y lord.!

    From , on Wed 15 Oct 12:30PM

  19. It doesn't matter who the mananger is, these over-paid & over-rated England footballers should be ashamed of themselves for failing to qualify. It's time for the big 4 clubs to join up with their european counterparts and play in their silly euro league and leave real football to real football supporters and not armchair watchers.

    From jon r, on Wed 15 Oct 12:25PM

  20. Whatever..WAGs, too much money , lots of foreigners in premiership,or not,good or bad coach, boo-boyz supporters and an active media...England lack the talent as a team to competetive at ahigh level,Other countrIES have tremendously improved football and England has remained stagnant. This is made worse by the players attitude and complacecy. I can agree this is also compromised by the above factors. Lets face it Engand used to be one of the best teams but things have gone down terribly from FA desicion making down to the managers,players and intrusive media. Lets face it and Get over it, things will slowly improve.

    From dzidzidzi32, on Wed 15 Oct 11:49AM
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