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It's been almost 3-whole-months since Rio Ferdinand missed that random drugs test that initially caused all this fuss. And that's exactly how-long it has take the FA to finally come up with a verdict as to how the England and Manchester United defender should rightfully be punished for his actions. And, as I'm sure you'll agree, an 8-month ban from Football (...and a £50,000 fine) is one heck of a lot more than we were expecting, from an organisation who, in the past, has let many a player quite simply walk-away with little more than a "slap on the wrist".
The money may still be a joke, but while the FA do deserve some credit for showing us they DO mean business (...this time!), 8-months is a heck of a long time to go without playing football! I can agree with punishing a player for missing such a test, in today's day and age; whatever his reason or excuse. But for a young player regarded as one of the country's best defenders - and a man who, as I believe, has only been proven guilty of missing the test (WITHOUT intention!) - this is quite rediculous! I mean, it's not like we even know if he actually DID take a performance-enhancing drug of any kind, now, is it! How can they do this to someone who is still `Innocent´ until proven otherwise?!? Just think of what it could do to him, mentally....
Does anyone not actually realise how long 8 months actually is??
Rio Ferdinand is looking at around 248-days without Football. He'll miss the remainder of Manchester United's Premiership, FA Cup and Champions' League season (as of 12th January); England's entire Euro 2004, and Sven-Goran Eriksson's remaining pre-tournament preparations; and even the first few weeks of NEXT season, as if it wasn't bad enough!!
Now, no-one else can really "understand" what it's going to be like for him, but even for a multi-million-pound footballer who "has it all", that has surely got to be enough to drive you insane!
Come the 2004-05 Premiership campaign next-year, for all we know, he could be a completely different player, altogether! The Rio Ferdinand who shone so-mightily in the 2002 World Cup as we know him could, after such a length of time without top-draw football, never be the same again.
And that is something I wouldn't be surprised to see, this time next-year. We've seen it in the past with players suffering career-threatening injuries, and how, when they return, they are a mere shadow of the `danger-man´ they were, only 18-months-ago.
Ranger's Dutch striker Michael Mols springs-to-mind... I can remember when he first arrived in Scottish Football - as can anyone else who saw it, I'm sure. To put it simply, he was the ``Ruud van Nistelrooy´´ of the Scottish Premier League, several years ago. Goals, goals... And more goals! He had it all, and helped Rangers to it all (domestically), also. What's more, he was on the verge of a sensational long-awaited break into the Dutch national-side; along with the likes of Patrick Kluivert and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (in a time before "Van the Man").
But, then came a serious knee-ligament injury, which kept him out of football altogether for the best-part of 2-years. No more goals; not more Title-challenges; no hope for the Champions' League; and no more dream-come-true with Holland in major competition. It was all gone, and this injury wasn't "going away" easily.
And when he did finally return, all he had in those years before the incident appeared to have gone with his rusty old muscles. He was slow, sluggish and lacking overall. Because of the severity - most importantly, the length-of-time had kept him out for - Michael Mols has lost it all. Rangers were now looking towards others to get the goals for them; as were the Nederlands, too. And, unfortunately, for what looked like a very promsing player, indeed; he doesn't seem to be "recovering" as well as we'd like, right now, either. Such a shame... Such potential....
And then, there's England's very-own Michael Bridges.... Well, he's obviously only "England's" in the sense of nationality, as opposed to anything `on-the-pitch´. But he could've been, y'know... If not for a similar injury to that which made Michael Mols' career suffer greatly.
There he was, on the form of his life at Elland Road, finishing the season as the Leeds United's top-scorer after a rather "awkard" time with Sunderland... And suddenly, time stands-still for him as a career-threatening knee-ligament injury strikes the promising Geordie-boy, and we do not see him again for another 18-months-or-so, as this presistance of this "regularity" amongst modern-day footballers claims its latest victim; cutting another young-man's dreams short, for the time being.
Like Mols again, by the time Bridges had returned to action with Leeds (only a month-or-two from today, infact), it had been all-too-long an absense from the one-thing he loved more than anything else in the world. And again, he, too, appears to be taking-his-time with a full-reovery back to his rampant goal-scoring ways.
Such a shame, yet again, for a player who, many believe, could've been the next-best-thing to Alan Shearer for England's "un-claimed" No.9 shirt....
But at least Michael Bridges is still young. As long as he never has to suffer another `set-back´ quite like that one again, he still has the best-part of another decade for top-flight, first-team football, to really make a name for himself. Michael Mols, however, was a considerable-bit older than young Bridges, approaching the wrong-side of 30, when it all begins to... "go". So, it's fair to say, there will still be hope for Rio Ferdinand after his 8-month INJURY-FREE vacation to `Hell´ and back. It just might take a bit of time, that's all. So, like all the others, it's doubtful he'll be thrown straight-back into the starting-eleven at Old Trafford, so-short of match practice and just about everything that has made him the respectable footballing-figure he is today (despite what you may or may not believe over this missed drugs test business).
Fellow United team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy is another to have suffered under the curse of the dreaded knee-ligament inury - and look at how he made his return to European Football, playing better-than-ever at the `Theatre of Dreams´, helping United to the Premier League Title (again), while staking his claim as one of the deadliest strikers in Europe, with over 30 goals in his first season back!
...And this, too, was a player who looked like he may have "lost it" in his initial cup-final return to the game with PSV - and he's scoring regularly for Holland, too!
So, you see, there is always going to be a great deal of hope for Rio Ferdinand when he does make his long-awaited return to football, in September 2004.
But the one-thing I fear about is just how-long it'll take him to fully-return. If he takes too long, or cannot re-establish himself soon-enough, who's to say Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson will no longer see him as first-choice, any longer?
For United, Fergie will now surely HAVE to sign someone in January, to save the club their season - if only for the Champions' League campaign. And with Eriksson always looking for younger players in his team, Sol Campbell could have himself an "other-half" who he really feels attatched to, come Portugal, next Summer.
Any player - no matter how-big or how-small - can be affected without regular first-team football for such a long period of time. Injuries or not, everyone who plays an the highest-level cannot keep-it-up in the reserves - just look at Dwight Yorke when van Nistelrooy and Forlan arrived, with Andy Cole going the other-way.
But this whole situation... It's a complete shambles! Once again, I feel rather ashamed to share the same nationality with the kind of people who can call such a descision "the right one". By all means, the FA deserve "some" respect for this; well-done for finally sticking your fingers out - whether you were pressured by Sepp Blatter or not.
But, once again, they've clearly failed to think things through properly, and, because of this, we have lost a large-chunk of one of England's brightest home-grown talents, in the long-run.
For 8-months he will be without the one-thing he loves most; the one-thing he excels at (despite what some critics may say). Clearly, this is going to effect him emotionally aswell; being at Euro 2004 as only "a fan"; unable to play.
I don't see this as being a case of `how Man United's season could suffer without him´ or how `England's chances of winning Euro 2004 have now been severed´... That's just selfish! And that, in-time, is how the FA have acted over all this, in my view; they're trying to prove a point, but again, they've gotten it wrong, and have gone too far. I just HOPE the appeal helps things a little, for the good of the future of the man himself.
Rio Ferdinand isn't just a "Footballer" - he's a real person, too, you know!!
The money may still be a joke, but while the FA do deserve some credit for showing us they DO mean business (...this time!), 8-months is a heck of a long time to go without playing football! I can agree with punishing a player for missing such a test, in today's day and age; whatever his reason or excuse. But for a young player regarded as one of the country's best defenders - and a man who, as I believe, has only been proven guilty of missing the test (WITHOUT intention!) - this is quite rediculous! I mean, it's not like we even know if he actually DID take a performance-enhancing drug of any kind, now, is it! How can they do this to someone who is still `Innocent´ until proven otherwise?!? Just think of what it could do to him, mentally....
Does anyone not actually realise how long 8 months actually is??
Rio Ferdinand is looking at around 248-days without Football. He'll miss the remainder of Manchester United's Premiership, FA Cup and Champions' League season (as of 12th January); England's entire Euro 2004, and Sven-Goran Eriksson's remaining pre-tournament preparations; and even the first few weeks of NEXT season, as if it wasn't bad enough!!
Now, no-one else can really "understand" what it's going to be like for him, but even for a multi-million-pound footballer who "has it all", that has surely got to be enough to drive you insane!
Come the 2004-05 Premiership campaign next-year, for all we know, he could be a completely different player, altogether! The Rio Ferdinand who shone so-mightily in the 2002 World Cup as we know him could, after such a length of time without top-draw football, never be the same again.
And that is something I wouldn't be surprised to see, this time next-year. We've seen it in the past with players suffering career-threatening injuries, and how, when they return, they are a mere shadow of the `danger-man´ they were, only 18-months-ago.
Ranger's Dutch striker Michael Mols springs-to-mind... I can remember when he first arrived in Scottish Football - as can anyone else who saw it, I'm sure. To put it simply, he was the ``Ruud van Nistelrooy´´ of the Scottish Premier League, several years ago. Goals, goals... And more goals! He had it all, and helped Rangers to it all (domestically), also. What's more, he was on the verge of a sensational long-awaited break into the Dutch national-side; along with the likes of Patrick Kluivert and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (in a time before "Van the Man").
But, then came a serious knee-ligament injury, which kept him out of football altogether for the best-part of 2-years. No more goals; not more Title-challenges; no hope for the Champions' League; and no more dream-come-true with Holland in major competition. It was all gone, and this injury wasn't "going away" easily.
And when he did finally return, all he had in those years before the incident appeared to have gone with his rusty old muscles. He was slow, sluggish and lacking overall. Because of the severity - most importantly, the length-of-time had kept him out for - Michael Mols has lost it all. Rangers were now looking towards others to get the goals for them; as were the Nederlands, too. And, unfortunately, for what looked like a very promsing player, indeed; he doesn't seem to be "recovering" as well as we'd like, right now, either. Such a shame... Such potential....
And then, there's England's very-own Michael Bridges.... Well, he's obviously only "England's" in the sense of nationality, as opposed to anything `on-the-pitch´. But he could've been, y'know... If not for a similar injury to that which made Michael Mols' career suffer greatly.
There he was, on the form of his life at Elland Road, finishing the season as the Leeds United's top-scorer after a rather "awkard" time with Sunderland... And suddenly, time stands-still for him as a career-threatening knee-ligament injury strikes the promising Geordie-boy, and we do not see him again for another 18-months-or-so, as this presistance of this "regularity" amongst modern-day footballers claims its latest victim; cutting another young-man's dreams short, for the time being.
Like Mols again, by the time Bridges had returned to action with Leeds (only a month-or-two from today, infact), it had been all-too-long an absense from the one-thing he loved more than anything else in the world. And again, he, too, appears to be taking-his-time with a full-reovery back to his rampant goal-scoring ways.
Such a shame, yet again, for a player who, many believe, could've been the next-best-thing to Alan Shearer for England's "un-claimed" No.9 shirt....
But at least Michael Bridges is still young. As long as he never has to suffer another `set-back´ quite like that one again, he still has the best-part of another decade for top-flight, first-team football, to really make a name for himself. Michael Mols, however, was a considerable-bit older than young Bridges, approaching the wrong-side of 30, when it all begins to... "go". So, it's fair to say, there will still be hope for Rio Ferdinand after his 8-month INJURY-FREE vacation to `Hell´ and back. It just might take a bit of time, that's all. So, like all the others, it's doubtful he'll be thrown straight-back into the starting-eleven at Old Trafford, so-short of match practice and just about everything that has made him the respectable footballing-figure he is today (despite what you may or may not believe over this missed drugs test business).
Fellow United team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy is another to have suffered under the curse of the dreaded knee-ligament inury - and look at how he made his return to European Football, playing better-than-ever at the `Theatre of Dreams´, helping United to the Premier League Title (again), while staking his claim as one of the deadliest strikers in Europe, with over 30 goals in his first season back!
...And this, too, was a player who looked like he may have "lost it" in his initial cup-final return to the game with PSV - and he's scoring regularly for Holland, too!
So, you see, there is always going to be a great deal of hope for Rio Ferdinand when he does make his long-awaited return to football, in September 2004.
But the one-thing I fear about is just how-long it'll take him to fully-return. If he takes too long, or cannot re-establish himself soon-enough, who's to say Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson will no longer see him as first-choice, any longer?
For United, Fergie will now surely HAVE to sign someone in January, to save the club their season - if only for the Champions' League campaign. And with Eriksson always looking for younger players in his team, Sol Campbell could have himself an "other-half" who he really feels attatched to, come Portugal, next Summer.
Any player - no matter how-big or how-small - can be affected without regular first-team football for such a long period of time. Injuries or not, everyone who plays an the highest-level cannot keep-it-up in the reserves - just look at Dwight Yorke when van Nistelrooy and Forlan arrived, with Andy Cole going the other-way.
But this whole situation... It's a complete shambles! Once again, I feel rather ashamed to share the same nationality with the kind of people who can call such a descision "the right one". By all means, the FA deserve "some" respect for this; well-done for finally sticking your fingers out - whether you were pressured by Sepp Blatter or not.
But, once again, they've clearly failed to think things through properly, and, because of this, we have lost a large-chunk of one of England's brightest home-grown talents, in the long-run.
For 8-months he will be without the one-thing he loves most; the one-thing he excels at (despite what some critics may say). Clearly, this is going to effect him emotionally aswell; being at Euro 2004 as only "a fan"; unable to play.
I don't see this as being a case of `how Man United's season could suffer without him´ or how `England's chances of winning Euro 2004 have now been severed´... That's just selfish! And that, in-time, is how the FA have acted over all this, in my view; they're trying to prove a point, but again, they've gotten it wrong, and have gone too far. I just HOPE the appeal helps things a little, for the good of the future of the man himself.
Rio Ferdinand isn't just a "Footballer" - he's a real person, too, you know!!
Page:
you can't compare rio to mols and bridges, they have had injuries and thats what is hard to get over, Rio can still partake in skills and physical activity everyday to keep him sharp and in peak condition.
Rio is also guilty not innocent as you protest, He is guilty of missing the test and the laws laid down are actually there, Its also true that depending on what he might or might have been on he may have been able to have used masking agents to.
I personally completely disagree with the punishment, but Rio can't really complain as it was his fault, I am surprised as well that he didn't get a 6 month ban. 8 months sees to have been picked completely at random, if i was the FA and i wanted to be harsh i'd have made it 6 months. so he missed this season and the euro champs but was at least back for the start of next season. Fergie would prefer it to! he's probably quite pleased that rio is missing the euro champs just annoyed he is missing the start of next season. If Man utd appeal and i were the FA I'd reduce it by 2 months so it looks like they are willing to listen but are still standing firm.
Rio is also guilty not innocent as you protest, He is guilty of missing the test and the laws laid down are actually there, Its also true that depending on what he might or might have been on he may have been able to have used masking agents to.
I personally completely disagree with the punishment, but Rio can't really complain as it was his fault, I am surprised as well that he didn't get a 6 month ban. 8 months sees to have been picked completely at random, if i was the FA and i wanted to be harsh i'd have made it 6 months. so he missed this season and the euro champs but was at least back for the start of next season. Fergie would prefer it to! he's probably quite pleased that rio is missing the euro champs just annoyed he is missing the start of next season. If Man utd appeal and i were the FA I'd reduce it by 2 months so it looks like they are willing to listen but are still standing firm.
It's been almost 3-whole-months since Rio Ferdinand missed that random drugs test that initially caused all this fuss. And that's exactly how-long it has take the FA to finally come up with a verdict as to how the England and Manchester United defender should rightfully be punished for his actions. And, as I'm sure you'll agree, an 8-month ban from Football (...and a £50,000 fine) is one heck of a lot more than we were expecting, from an organisation who, in the past, has let many a player quite simply walk-away with little more than a "slap on the wrist".
The money may still be a joke, but while the FA do deserve some credit for showing us they DO mean business (...this time!), 8-months is a heck of a long time to go without playing football! I can agree with punishing a player for missing such a test, in today's day and age; whatever his reason or excuse. But for a young player regarded as one of the country's best defenders - and a man who, as I believe, has only been proven guilty of missing the test (WITHOUT intention!) - this is quite rediculous! I mean, it's not like we even know if he actually DID take a performance-enhancing drug of any kind, now, is it! How can they do this to someone who is still `Innocent´ until proven otherwise?!? Just think of what it could do to him, mentally....
Does anyone not actually realise how long 8 months actually is??
Rio Ferdinand is looking at around 248-days without Football. He'll miss the remainder of Manchester United's Premiership, FA Cup and Champions' League season (as of 12th January); England's entire Euro 2004, and Sven-Goran Eriksson's remaining pre-tournament preparations; and even the first few weeks of NEXT season, as if it wasn't bad enough!!
Now, no-one else can really "understand" what it's going to be like for him, but even for a multi-million-pound footballer who "has it all", that has surely got to be enough to drive you insane!
Come the 2004-05 Premiership campaign next-year, for all we know, he could be a completely different player, altogether! The Rio Ferdinand who shone so-mightily in the 2002 World Cup as we know him could, after such a length of time without top-draw football, never be the same again.
And that is something I wouldn't be surprised to see, this time next-year. We've seen it in the past with players suffering career-threatening injuries, and how, when they return, they are a mere shadow of the `danger-man´ they were, only 18-months-ago.
Ranger's Dutch striker Michael Mols springs-to-mind... I can remember when he first arrived in Scottish Football - as can anyone else who saw it, I'm sure. To put it simply, he was the ``Ruud van Nistelrooy´´ of the Scottish Premier League, several years ago. Goals, goals... And more goals! He had it all, and helped Rangers to it all (domestically), also. What's more, he was on the verge of a sensational long-awaited break into the Dutch national-side; along with the likes of Patrick Kluivert and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (in a time before "Van the Man").
But, then came a serious knee-ligament injury, which kept him out of football altogether for the best-part of 2-years. No more goals; not more Title-challenges; no hope for the Champions' League; and no more dream-come-true with Holland in major competition. It was all gone, and this injury wasn't "going away" easily.
And when he did finally return, all he had in those years before the incident appeared to have gone with his rusty old muscles. He was slow, sluggish and lacking overall. Because of the severity - most importantly, the length-of-time had kept him out for - Michael Mols has lost it all. Rangers were now looking towards others to get the goals for them; as were the Nederlands, too. And, unfortunately, for what looked like a very promsing player, indeed; he doesn't seem to be "recovering" as well as we'd like, right now, either. Such a shame... Such potential....
And then, there's England's very-own Michael Bridges.... Well, he's obviously only "England's" in the sense of nationality, as opposed to anything `on-the-pitch´. But he could've been, y'know... If not for a similar injury to that which made Michael Mols' career suffer greatly.
There he was, on the form of his life at Elland Road, finishing the season as the Leeds United's top-scorer after a rather "awkard" time with Sunderland... And suddenly, time stands-still for him as a career-threatening knee-ligament injury strikes the promising Geordie-boy, and we do not see him again for another 18-months-or-so, as this presistance of this "regularity" amongst modern-day footballers claims its latest victim; cutting another young-man's dreams short, for the time being.
Like Mols again, by the time Bridges had returned to action with Leeds (only a month-or-two from today, infact), it had been all-too-long an absense from the one-thing he loved more than anything else in the world. And again, he, too, appears to be taking-his-time with a full-reovery back to his rampant goal-scoring ways.
Such a shame, yet again, for a player who, many believe, could've been the next-best-thing to Alan Shearer for England's "un-claimed" No.9 shirt....
But at least Michael Bridges is still young. As long as he never has to suffer another `set-back´ quite like that one again, he still has the best-part of another decade for top-flight, first-team football, to really make a name for himself. Michael Mols, however, was a considerable-bit older than young Bridges, approaching the wrong-side of 30, when it all begins to... "go". So, it's fair to say, there will still be hope for Rio Ferdinand after his 8-month INJURY-FREE vacation to `Hell´ and back. It just might take a bit of time, that's all. So, like all the others, it's doubtful he'll be thrown straight-back into the starting-eleven at Old Trafford, so-short of match practice and just about everything that has made him the respectable footballing-figure he is today (despite what you may or may not believe over this missed drugs test business).
Fellow United team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy is another to have suffered under the curse of the dreaded knee-ligament inury - and look at how he made his return to European Football, playing better-than-ever at the `Theatre of Dreams´, helping United to the Premier League Title (again), while staking his claim as one of the deadliest strikers in Europe, with over 30 goals in his first season back!
...And this, too, was a player who looked like he may have "lost it" in his initial cup-final return to the game with PSV - and he's scoring regularly for Holland, too!
So, you see, there is always going to be a great deal of hope for Rio Ferdinand when he does make his long-awaited return to football, in September 2004.
But the one-thing I fear about is just how-long it'll take him to fully-return. If he takes too long, or cannot re-establish himself soon-enough, who's to say Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson will no longer see him as first-choice, any longer?
For United, Fergie will now surely HAVE to sign someone in January, to save the club their season - if only for the Champions' League campaign. And with Eriksson always looking for younger players in his team, Sol Campbell could have himself an "other-half" who he really feels attatched to, come Portugal, next Summer.
Any player - no matter how-big or how-small - can be affected without regular first-team football for such a long period of time. Injuries or not, everyone who plays an the highest-level cannot keep-it-up in the reserves - just look at Dwight Yorke when van Nistelrooy and Forlan arrived, with Andy Cole going the other-way.
But this whole situation... It's a complete shambles! Once again, I feel rather ashamed to share the same nationality with the kind of people who can call such a descision "the right one". By all means, the FA deserve "some" respect for this; well-done for finally sticking your fingers out - whether you were pressured by Sepp Blatter or not.
But, once again, they've clearly failed to think things through properly, and, because of this, we have lost a large-chunk of one of England's brightest home-grown talents, in the long-run.
For 8-months he will be without the one-thing he loves most; the one-thing he excels at (despite what some critics may say). Clearly, this is going to effect him emotionally aswell; being at Euro 2004 as only "a fan"; unable to play.
I don't see this as being a case of `how Man United's season could suffer without him´ or how `England's chances of winning Euro 2004 have now been severed´... That's just selfish! And that, in-time, is how the FA have acted over all this, in my view; they're trying to prove a point, but again, they've gotten it wrong, and have gone too far. I just HOPE the appeal helps things a little, for the good of the future of the man himself.
Rio Ferdinand isn't just a "Footballer" - he's a real person, too, you know!!
The money may still be a joke, but while the FA do deserve some credit for showing us they DO mean business (...this time!), 8-months is a heck of a long time to go without playing football! I can agree with punishing a player for missing such a test, in today's day and age; whatever his reason or excuse. But for a young player regarded as one of the country's best defenders - and a man who, as I believe, has only been proven guilty of missing the test (WITHOUT intention!) - this is quite rediculous! I mean, it's not like we even know if he actually DID take a performance-enhancing drug of any kind, now, is it! How can they do this to someone who is still `Innocent´ until proven otherwise?!? Just think of what it could do to him, mentally....
Does anyone not actually realise how long 8 months actually is??
Rio Ferdinand is looking at around 248-days without Football. He'll miss the remainder of Manchester United's Premiership, FA Cup and Champions' League season (as of 12th January); England's entire Euro 2004, and Sven-Goran Eriksson's remaining pre-tournament preparations; and even the first few weeks of NEXT season, as if it wasn't bad enough!!
Now, no-one else can really "understand" what it's going to be like for him, but even for a multi-million-pound footballer who "has it all", that has surely got to be enough to drive you insane!
Come the 2004-05 Premiership campaign next-year, for all we know, he could be a completely different player, altogether! The Rio Ferdinand who shone so-mightily in the 2002 World Cup as we know him could, after such a length of time without top-draw football, never be the same again.
And that is something I wouldn't be surprised to see, this time next-year. We've seen it in the past with players suffering career-threatening injuries, and how, when they return, they are a mere shadow of the `danger-man´ they were, only 18-months-ago.
Ranger's Dutch striker Michael Mols springs-to-mind... I can remember when he first arrived in Scottish Football - as can anyone else who saw it, I'm sure. To put it simply, he was the ``Ruud van Nistelrooy´´ of the Scottish Premier League, several years ago. Goals, goals... And more goals! He had it all, and helped Rangers to it all (domestically), also. What's more, he was on the verge of a sensational long-awaited break into the Dutch national-side; along with the likes of Patrick Kluivert and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (in a time before "Van the Man").
But, then came a serious knee-ligament injury, which kept him out of football altogether for the best-part of 2-years. No more goals; not more Title-challenges; no hope for the Champions' League; and no more dream-come-true with Holland in major competition. It was all gone, and this injury wasn't "going away" easily.
And when he did finally return, all he had in those years before the incident appeared to have gone with his rusty old muscles. He was slow, sluggish and lacking overall. Because of the severity - most importantly, the length-of-time had kept him out for - Michael Mols has lost it all. Rangers were now looking towards others to get the goals for them; as were the Nederlands, too. And, unfortunately, for what looked like a very promsing player, indeed; he doesn't seem to be "recovering" as well as we'd like, right now, either. Such a shame... Such potential....
And then, there's England's very-own Michael Bridges.... Well, he's obviously only "England's" in the sense of nationality, as opposed to anything `on-the-pitch´. But he could've been, y'know... If not for a similar injury to that which made Michael Mols' career suffer greatly.
There he was, on the form of his life at Elland Road, finishing the season as the Leeds United's top-scorer after a rather "awkard" time with Sunderland... And suddenly, time stands-still for him as a career-threatening knee-ligament injury strikes the promising Geordie-boy, and we do not see him again for another 18-months-or-so, as this presistance of this "regularity" amongst modern-day footballers claims its latest victim; cutting another young-man's dreams short, for the time being.
Like Mols again, by the time Bridges had returned to action with Leeds (only a month-or-two from today, infact), it had been all-too-long an absense from the one-thing he loved more than anything else in the world. And again, he, too, appears to be taking-his-time with a full-reovery back to his rampant goal-scoring ways.
Such a shame, yet again, for a player who, many believe, could've been the next-best-thing to Alan Shearer for England's "un-claimed" No.9 shirt....
But at least Michael Bridges is still young. As long as he never has to suffer another `set-back´ quite like that one again, he still has the best-part of another decade for top-flight, first-team football, to really make a name for himself. Michael Mols, however, was a considerable-bit older than young Bridges, approaching the wrong-side of 30, when it all begins to... "go". So, it's fair to say, there will still be hope for Rio Ferdinand after his 8-month INJURY-FREE vacation to `Hell´ and back. It just might take a bit of time, that's all. So, like all the others, it's doubtful he'll be thrown straight-back into the starting-eleven at Old Trafford, so-short of match practice and just about everything that has made him the respectable footballing-figure he is today (despite what you may or may not believe over this missed drugs test business).
Fellow United team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy is another to have suffered under the curse of the dreaded knee-ligament inury - and look at how he made his return to European Football, playing better-than-ever at the `Theatre of Dreams´, helping United to the Premier League Title (again), while staking his claim as one of the deadliest strikers in Europe, with over 30 goals in his first season back!
...And this, too, was a player who looked like he may have "lost it" in his initial cup-final return to the game with PSV - and he's scoring regularly for Holland, too!
So, you see, there is always going to be a great deal of hope for Rio Ferdinand when he does make his long-awaited return to football, in September 2004.
But the one-thing I fear about is just how-long it'll take him to fully-return. If he takes too long, or cannot re-establish himself soon-enough, who's to say Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson will no longer see him as first-choice, any longer?
For United, Fergie will now surely HAVE to sign someone in January, to save the club their season - if only for the Champions' League campaign. And with Eriksson always looking for younger players in his team, Sol Campbell could have himself an "other-half" who he really feels attatched to, come Portugal, next Summer.
Any player - no matter how-big or how-small - can be affected without regular first-team football for such a long period of time. Injuries or not, everyone who plays an the highest-level cannot keep-it-up in the reserves - just look at Dwight Yorke when van Nistelrooy and Forlan arrived, with Andy Cole going the other-way.
But this whole situation... It's a complete shambles! Once again, I feel rather ashamed to share the same nationality with the kind of people who can call such a descision "the right one". By all means, the FA deserve "some" respect for this; well-done for finally sticking your fingers out - whether you were pressured by Sepp Blatter or not.
But, once again, they've clearly failed to think things through properly, and, because of this, we have lost a large-chunk of one of England's brightest home-grown talents, in the long-run.
For 8-months he will be without the one-thing he loves most; the one-thing he excels at (despite what some critics may say). Clearly, this is going to effect him emotionally aswell; being at Euro 2004 as only "a fan"; unable to play.
I don't see this as being a case of `how Man United's season could suffer without him´ or how `England's chances of winning Euro 2004 have now been severed´... That's just selfish! And that, in-time, is how the FA have acted over all this, in my view; they're trying to prove a point, but again, they've gotten it wrong, and have gone too far. I just HOPE the appeal helps things a little, for the good of the future of the man himself.
Rio Ferdinand isn't just a "Footballer" - he's a real person, too, you know!!
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