Dec 14, 2005 12:29 PM
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(Updated Dec 14, 2005 12:29 PM)
I BET you somewhere out there, an old joke has resurfaced.
It goes something like this:
How many Manchester United players does it take to change a light bulb?
None. Today, Manchester United players look better in the dark.
Sure, it's a silly joke but today that's United for you.
Out of the Champions League. Out of Europe. Why must this great club suffer such humiliation?
I say, blame Rio Ferdinand.Last Tuesday morning after the final whistle Sir Alex Ferguson was crushed. You could see it on television. His eyes blank. His shoulders drooped.Ferdinand, the club's highest-paid player, was busy exchanging jerseys on the pitch and making like it was no big deal.<Either he is a remarkable actor or a football mercenary.I think mercenary fits his profile.>This morning, when Manchester United played Benfica in what turned out to be a heart-in-the mouth, emotional rollercoaster of a match, Ferdinand was a non-contributor.Sure, many will point at Cristiano Ronaldo as the main culprit in Manchester United's exit from Europe, but Ferdinand must shoulder plenty of the blame.Paid a whopping 100,000 ($300,000) a week and banging the table for a pay rise - he is demanding a 120,000 weekly wage - Ferdinand wasn't worth a cent this morning.When Manchester United needed him most, he acted like he didn't need them at all.There was nothing in his play which suggested he was committed to the cause.Nothing which showed he had a heart.With loyalty being a hallowed virtue, Ferdinand looked like he didn't understand the meaning of the word.If it were anyone else, it would have been a different story. But this was Ferdinand.He, who lives in a country mansion bought with money paid to him by Manchester United and maintained by the 4 million he takes home each year.Oh, he is asking for 6.2 million.He, who was backed to the hilt by the club who paid him almost 2 million for shaking his legs during the eight months he was banned for failing to take a drugs test.Actually, he turned that conviction for misconduct into a profit.He, who joined Manchester United for a British record fee of 30 million.And he who could be slipping into an England shirt when World Cup 2006 rolls along.Being all of the above, one would have expected to see him vomit blood for United's cause. But what did we get?A show so devoid of purpose and passion that it surely would have made some Man U fans puke.Honestly, this was an occasion for Ferdinand to shine the spotlight on himself.Not the most exciting player in United's recent Premiership journey and certainly not England's MVP ahead of the World Cup, Ferdinand could have 'pulled up his socks' when his team was down.But no. He simply extinguished himself just when his team needed his fire.
Not for the first time, he must take some responsibility for Benfica getting the equaliser.And when they needed his experience to guide them through those frenetic final minutes, Ferdinand was tripping over his own bootlaces.Sure, at times he ran - helter skelter - like the hound of the Baskervilles. But surely he must know that fearlessness without strategy is futile.Perhaps now Ferguson will look at his defender differently.Because this morning, when Ferguson called on his finest to stand up to stand up and be counted, Ferdinand slunk away.Because this morning, as the clock counted down the minutes and Ferguson prayed that his team be touched by an angel, Ferdinand played the devil.
