Monday, July 04, 2005

Ferdinand defended on 'disloyalty'

Manchester United chief executive David Gill has defended Rio Ferdinand against allegations of disloyalty for his failure to sign his new Red Devils contract.
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The £100,000-a-week extension to Ferdinand's contract remains unsigned even though Sir Alex Ferguson called on the England defender to commit his future to Old Trafford prior to the FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal in May.
However Gill, who confirmed all the financial details of Cristiano Ronaldo's contract extension have been agreed, believes Ferdinand, who has two years of his current deal still to run, is perfectly within his rights to wait and is confident the saga will eventually reach a satisfactory conclusion.
'There is no stumbling block,' Gill told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme.
'We want him to stay, he wants to stay and in my experience, when that situation prevails, invariably the player stays.'
Negotiations were not helped by the 26-year-old being photographed in a London restaurant with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, and while United's record £29million buy has continually insisted he wants to stay with the club, he has also warned he will not be rushed into accepting terms.
Many fans have reacted with disdain to the Londoner's stance, recalling how the club stood by him during his eight-month ban for a missed drugs test and claiming it is now time for Ferdinand to repay the debt.
'We did support him through his suspension, as we would any player in that situation,' Gill added.
'But I don't think just because we were loyal to him it means he should definitely sign the contract.
'It is his career and he has to make sure the financial terms are right. We don't equate that with disloyalty, we equate that to taking the right advice, being professional and moving forward.
'It is too easy when you are looking at multi-million pound contracts and a player's career [to say] if you don't sign you are disloyal. We don't see it like that, the manager doesn't and I am sure most people in the club don't either.
'I know Rio relatively well and think he has been very loyal to this club.'
With Gill now on holiday for a fortnight, it is looking increasingly unlikely any deal will be agreed before United head off to the Far East on their four-match pre-season tour at the end of the month.
Ferdinand did join up with the rest of the Red Devils squad for last week's training camp in the Algarve and is due at Carrington tomorrow, so a repeat of David Beckham's abrupt departure when he refused to commit his long-term future to Old Trafford two years ago can almost certainly be discounted.
'We are trying to do things privately,' said Gill.
'We have been involved in the takeover and he has been on holiday, so no doubt we will be sitting down in the fullness of time to talk about it.'

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