Holland’s Rafael van der Vaart has called England manager Roy Hodgson’s decision to omit defender Rio Ferdinand from his Euro 2012 squad, “strange”. While Ferdinand’s agent prefers the term, “stupid” to describe Hodgson’s move, former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler came right out and wrote what almost everyone else was thinking ; that Rio’s being left at home in the hopes of avoiding bad vibes with ex-captain John Terry, recently charged with aiming racial slurs at Ferdinand’s brother Anton during Chelsea’s visit to Queens Park Rangers last October.
There’s not a chance Rio Ferdinand was left out of the England squad for “footballing reasons”. Not a chance. The public knows that too.
I’ve read that Ferdinand got in touch with Hodgson shortly after he was appointed as manager to say he was willing to play in the same England team as Terry.
I played with Rio Ferdinand at Leeds United. He is a fantastic player who reads the game brilliantly. He started 30 Premier League games for Manchester United last season and nearly won the league. Footballing reasons?