You do your Teams and fellow supporters a great injustice with pathetic ramblings like these. please log in to view this image
Maybe Rio Ferdinand should have spent less time worrying about the Ivory Coast, after all. You will recall that the Manchester United defender scolded the media last week for focusing on his teammate Wayne Rooney's foul-mouthed outburst into a live television camera, when we should have been earnestly discussing various conflicts in Africa. (Apparently he is unaware that some newspapers manage to write about more than one story per issue.) It was a shame he shunned the extensive coverage of Rooney's outburst. Perhaps if he had glanced at a newspaper, instead of writing about himself all day on Twitter, Ferdinand would have realised that the English Football Association is clamping down on players who act like yobs. He might also have realised that, like it or not, high-profile players from big teams - like, say, Rio Ferdinand from Manchester United - are more likely to be punished than some Johnny No-Name from the lower echelons. With all that information in his capacious brain, perhaps Ferdinand would have thought twice before disgracing the end of Saturday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium. Instead, this mature and allegedly intelligent man, a former England captain who had become a father again that very day, allowed himself to be wound up by Manchester City's Mario Balotelli. Balotelli allegedly incensed Ferdinand by goading United fans after City's 1-0 victory. He did this by thrusting his shirt crest at them - an action which some might say is considerably less offensive than screaming foul language into a television camera, which Ferdinand would presumably have considered no big deal. The young Italian then winked at Ferdinand, which was simply glorious: a perfectly timed metaphorical slap in the face for a man who is clearly used to young pups showing more respect. Watch the slow-motion replay if you can. In the ensuing melee, a clearly enraged Ferdinand had to be held back by at least three people. He wanted to get to Balotelli, and the look on his snarling face made it pretty clear that he was not planning to discuss the war in Libya. The irony of the situation is not hard to spot. Manchester United might well have won that match if both Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, had not been serving bans which resulted from their volcanic tempers: the talismanic Rooney was banned for swearing, the tactical genius Ferguson was on a touchline ban for questioning the impartiality of referees. Had those two been available, maybe United would not have lost the chance to win the FA Cup. Their inability to control their rage has been their downfall. You might think this is a problem they should address. They will not, of course, because in their minds, the problem does not exist. After all what Balotelli did was just as bad as what Gary Neville did despite the video evidence to the contrary and the actual complete lack of it in Balotelli's case. They have no flaws, you see, because they are perfect. Any alleged flaws are simply the fabrications of that pan-global conspiracy which is so obviously out to get them: jealous fans, petty bureaucrats and those mischievous guttersnipe journalists who really should be writing about something else. But we don't. Because this stuff is just too much fun.
Nothing incident. I will be shocked if Rio isn't banned though. I feel another precedent coming here.
Oh the irony of calling city fans bitter when you post this tripe!!! ha ha ha. I think Ballotelli was in the wrong but when you see this kind of arrogance you can appreciate why he would want to wind up united a bit. Good luck to em. This is their first final in years, same for stoke. Nice to see some new faces in the final.
swarbs i appreciate your kind of humorous response to my bastardised comment but those nobs 2 on that vid need taking outside and shooting. k:
