Ferdinand camp angry at England after being overlooked for Euro 2012 following Cahill withdrawal
The representative of Rio Ferdinand has criticised the Football Association and England manager Roy Hodgson for ignoring the Manchester United defender following the withdrawal of Chelsea’s Gary Cahill from the Euro 2012 squad, the Daily Telegraph has reported.
Ferdinand was left out of the original party due to what was said at the time to be purely football reasons, despite the presence in the 23 of John Terry, who is involved in a legal case over racist comments he allegedly made towards Rio’s brother Anton, the Queens Park Rangers defender. Terry denies the charge.
A spate of injuries has seen a number of changes to Hodgson’s squad, with Cahill’s double fractured jaw, suffered against Belgium, the latest. Phil Jagielka and Jordan Henderson have come off the stand-by list in place of Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard, but Liverpool’s Martin Kelly was called up in Cahill’s place instead of Ferdinand.
The player’s agent, Jamie Moralee, accused the England manager and the governing body of disrespecting Ferdinand. He said: “Lampard, Terry, Barry, Gerrard: all ageing but they [were picked to] go to the tournament. Why is Rio different? To treat a player that has captained and served his country 81 times (in this manner) is nothing short of disgraceful. Total lack of respect from Hodgson and the FA as far as I am concerned.”
Ferdinand himself was more cryptic, saying only on his Twitter page “What reasons?????!!!”, with the Telegraph claiming Ferdinand was referencing the official explanation given for his initial absence from the group.
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