When Rio
Ferdinand completes his coaching badges, the former England defender has
it all mapped out. He wants the biggest job of the lot.
This
is his England dream; a vision and a philosophy that he believes will
get the best out of the country’s players under his guidance. It feels
good to hear someone care so much.
‘Everyone has dreams of playing for England and my dream after football is to manage England,’ he revealed.
‘I don’t expect the chance now, but once I get the badges I am there. If I don’t get a job in management I will wonder why.’
Ferdinand
started out on the coaching pathway when his career at Manchester
United came to a close. It fills him with enthusiasm and now he wants
more.
To
listen to him talk about the national team, to hear the passion in his
voice, leaves you wanting to know more. ‘I will give myself the best
opportunity of getting the job by getting all the badges,’ he added.
‘I
don’t think people should start shouting the odds about the opportunity
to manage clubs until they have their badges. I am not sitting here
saying “give me a job” because I don’t have them yet.’
He
speaks of radical changes needed with the national set-up, adapting the
structure to suit an England team that would be encouraged to play
Ferdinand’s way. After 50 years of failure, it has to be worth a shot.
‘Maybe
I’m not their (the FA’s) type, but I don’t know what their type is,’
added Ferdinand. ‘Maybe it’s an unblemished track record, but everybody
deserves a second chance. Glenn Hoddle is a prime example. He’s the best
one you had and he is gone, never to be seen again with England. We are
on our knees.’
Ferdinand
is talking about his eight-month ban from football after he missed a
drugs test in 2003. It was an error, a bad one, but he has been the
model professional ever since.
‘Everybody
deserves a second chance,’ he says. Ferdinand is right. This is a man
who wants to take care of his country, to improve the players and make
sure the future of the national team is secure. It has been a long time
since anyone could say that.
‘It
will take radical changes for things to happen with England and
people’s noses might be put out of joint but in the long run it will
work,’ he added.
He fears that young players in the Premier League are earning too much, something Brendan Rodgers highlighted last week.
‘The
incentive has gone,’ claimed Ferdinand. ‘Are you gong to do that extra
set of doggies, or sprints? You can be in the reserves and if you have
£5,000 a week coming in you’re thinking about what colour car you’re
going to get.
‘Or
you might be thinking what holiday you’re going to send your mum and
dad on or what shoes you’re going to get. It is a different environment
and I don’t think it is the right environment. It is football and if you
are given a lot of scope then you will do it. That is the way it is.
Maybe clubs or the FA have to revert back a little bit to give them a
bit more of a grounding.’
Ferdinand
is a traditionalist, one of the old school as he reflects on the days
when he would sit on the bench alongside Frank Lampard as a teenager at
West Ham. Back then they still cleaned the first-team players’ boots,
keeping their head down and driving to training in beaten-up old Ford
Fiestas at the start of their careers.
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