Game Changers: Inside English Football: From the Boardroom to the Bootroom

As a professional you play football and get paid for it, and you only get to do that in the first place because you have the ability to perform at a high level. There are various degrees of ability in our game, and there are some very good players who will never make that breakthrough into the really big time and play Premier League football. All professionals have to be of a certain standard, but those who make it into the Premier League and then perform consistently at that level week in, week out are the elite. To do that for a season or two, or even three, four or five years on the bounce is tough, so to do it for eighteen years and for the most part with a team who were at the very top of the English game is pretty remarkable. But that is exactly what Rio Ferdinand did.

During the course of the Premier League history he has been one of its major players, consistently turning in performances of the highest quality, and apart from his undoubted ability it is Rio’s hunger that has been a mainstay of his fantastic playing career.

He was a big part of the league for all but four years of its existence during his playing days, making his professional debut for West Ham in their last Premier League game of the season, against Sheffield Wednesday in May 1996. He was just seventeen at the time, and went on to become one of the best centre-backs this country has ever produced.

He was always a very good ball-playing defender, and during his early career was just as comfortable playing in midfield. As a kid growing up in south London Rio was football mad, and his talent shone through at a very early age. All of the clubs in the area – and many beyond it – were aware of him, but it was West Ham who eventually got lucky and signed him. He joined them when he was thirteen, progressing through the ranks before making that first-team debut four years later.

You always knew he was going to be a player because he was not only very talented, he was also a natural athlete, and that is something you have got to be in order to play and compete at the very top. I remember seeing him in a youth-team match when I was managing Charlton and he was playing in midfield for West Ham. He looked very comfortable on the ball, was able to see a pass and could tackle. Even at that early age there was also a calmness and assurance about his play, something that was to become a hallmark of his as the years went by. When he later dropped back to play in the centre-half role he was able to do so knowing he had tremendous pace, which not many centre-backs have, and his class was evident.

From as early as he can remember Rio always wanted to be a footballer. He had the skill, ability and dedication to make that happen, and his hunger to do well and achieve things as a player never left him. When he talks about growing up as a football-mad kid you really get a sense of just how happy and grateful he is that he was able to fulfil the dreams he had as a youngster.

‘When I was growing up me and my mates all used to say that if we played one minute of professional football we’d all die happy,’ he says. ‘It didn’t matter whether it was going to be in Division Three or Four, as they were in those days. At least I then knew I would be able to go out and say, “I’ve played professional football.” It meant that much to us then, and it still means so much to me today.

‘I just used to love playing football, and I’d go out and try to play like Gazza, John Barnes, Paul Ince, Frank Rijkaard or Maradona, all the big names of that time – and they were the players I admired most. I wanted to play just like them, and I’d go out in the street, have a kickaround with my mates and try to do just what I’d seen them do. It wasn’t like it is today, where every kid knows everything he wants to know about a player – because there is so much information out there. My little ten-year-old son knows all there is to know about the top players, from the way they look and play to what they have to eat for breakfast. Back then all I really knew about those players was the way they played, and that was good enough. It captured my imagination, and football meant everything to me.’

Having played at the top for such a long time and in an era when the Premier League has got bigger, better and stronger, Rio was at the centre of a globally popular competition that shows no signs of diminishing. During his time as one of its major players he saw the league and all those involved in it change and develop into what it is today. His footballing memories and background are, in many ways, from a very different time, but he played and grew with the league, seeing the changes it has brought to clubs, players and fans. He won pretty much all you could at club level, as well as captaining his country, and he knows just what it’s like to be a top player in the modern game. Throughout his distinguished career his hunger seems to have been at the core of the success he enjoyed.

‘I think I always had a work ethic when it came to my football,’ he insists. ‘That came from my parents. My mum worked with other people’s kids and was always there to make sure we had the nice things every now and again. My dad used to travel from north London to south London to take me to west London for training, so I always knew that I had to be ready; I couldn’t mess about, because I realised what a big effort he’d made to take me to training. I was lucky because I had a district manager called Dave Goodwin, who used to say, “Set targets for yourself.” I always did that as a kid.

‘When I was at West Ham he would ask me what I thought I could achieve at certain points. So I’d say things like, “Being a regular in the youth side and then maybe get six or seven appearances in the reserves during my early days at the club.” When I’d reached those goals I set myself new ones. I was always trying to push myself to do better and achieve more from a very early stage, and that sort of approach to my career never really left me. I was never satisfied to just sit back and be content with what I’d done, because as far as I was concerned there was always more to do.

‘I think kids now can get a bit wayward. They get to a certain stage and they down tools. I’ve known loads like that throughout my career. I’d have been embarrassed to go home to my mum and dad and my mates on the estate I grew up on, say I’d played two games for a top club and then never be seen again. It would have killed me. I’d have moped around, and you wouldn’t have seen me. I was always serious about what I did when it came to football.

‘Things are different now. I think with some young players, they get their first contract, they know it’s been in the press and that people know who they are. They’ll maybe get into nightclubs for free and they start to think about all sorts of things. For them it’s more about what comes with being a footballer, rather than being a footballer.

‘I always say to young kids, “You’re going to get rich, you’re going to get access to all sorts of things – if you work hard. All of that comes along naturally, but you have to work hard.” They might crave the money and everything else, but at the same time forget the hard work that goes into making sure all of that happens.

‘That’s why I give so much credit to Ronaldo. He wasn’t the finished article at all when I first knew him, even though he had great ability, but his drive and desire to be a top player were always there – and it’s just the same now. I spoke to Gareth Bale about him a while ago and he said that Cristiano was relentless. That every day in training he always wanted to win, he always wanted to score. It’s just the same as when he was at United. He hasn’t changed – he’s still really driven, still wants to keep working even though he’s the best player in the world.

‘It’s about taking pride in what you do as far as I’m concerned, and that has always been part of me. I always wanted to earn respect from people, whether it was a football manager or someone you were playing against in the park. I wanted them to think, “That Rio’s a good player.” That’s all I’ve ever cared about.’

After his start in professional football with West Ham, Rio went on to play 127 games for the club before being transferred to Leeds United as a twenty-year-old for a record £18 million fee. He then moved on to Manchester United in the summer of 2002 for another record fee, this time £30 million, making him the world’s most expensive defender and the most expensive British footballer at the time. It was at Old Trafford that he enjoyed his greatest success, playing for fourteen seasons and winning the Champions League, six Premier League titles, three League Cups and one Club World Cup. He also played eighty-one times for England and captained his country in the process. His transfer to Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 2014 meant that Ferdinand played in twenty-one Premier League seasons, and he’d seen it change and evolve into what it is today. Rio had to change and adapt as well, and the dressing-room culture these days, particularly at the big clubs, is light years away from what used to go on.

‘Everything about the league has changed during the time from when I started until I finished,’ he says. ‘The diet of players, the scientific methods used to track what players do and the way you perform. It’s all monitored now, and there’s no escape from it or getting away with things. The pace of the league is different now as well. The speed and quality are massively high. The fitness levels are obviously better, but it’s the quickness of the game and the fact that any mistakes are usually punished with a goal, or at least a shot on goal, that are really the major features. Years ago as a player at West Ham if I’d wanted to coast through a training session I could probably have got away with it. That couldn’t happen now. When I went to Leeds the challenges there were a bit harder and the targets different, and then when I moved to Manchester United they were even harder – and so were the demands.

‘When I started at West Ham and got into the squad it was a case of “all-dayers” on a Tuesday, all out on a Saturday night and sometimes “all-dayers” on a Sunday as well. Because they’re all at it you could get away with things if you wanted. You could think, “I feel tired today,” but then there were ten others feeling the same!

‘If you did that sort of thing at Manchester United you were one on your own and you stood out like a sore thumb. You wouldn’t be playing for a month and pretty soon you’d be on the scrapheap, or off somewhere else to a lower-league team. So the change in dynamics was huge.

‘Partying and socialising were a big part of my life at West Ham when I was a kid, even when I got into the first team, but when I was at Man United that all changed. If anyone had seen my day-to-day existence when I was at Old Trafford they would have thought it was really boring. I’d finish training in the mornings, go home, go to sleep for an hour or two, wake up, get the kids from school, then go back and sit in the house watching TV or whatever. People think you’re always out – that you’d go to the opening of an envelope or you’re at a party. They think you have an extravagant lifestyle, but believe me, if I had done those things I wouldn’t have been at Man United for long.

‘I know a player who was the first in my year group to break into the first team. He had terrific ability, but his lifestyle probably didn’t change from when he was sixteen years old to the day he retired. He was always out drinking, and that never left him. He had the talent, but other players who weren’t as good as him went on to have better careers.

‘The environment you’re in can play a part. At Leeds there was a drinking culture when I was there. We had lots of young lads in the team and the city was based around Leeds United Football Club. We were the form team and it was an exciting time to be there. I was in that drinking culture, but I was still being more professional than I’d been at West Ham. I was maybe only going out twice a week instead of four times. My performances were going well – and at that age you can get away with it – but when I went to Manchester United it was a much more mature squad. I remember looking at people there and thinking, “I’d better start doing what they’re doing.” The number of games we were involved in demanded that you had to do things right. We were playing top games three times a week sometimes, so you just had to knock all the socialising on the head or you weren’t going to be able to perform and compete at that level.

‘If you look at a typical week when you’re involved in the Champions League, there’s no way you could perform if you didn’t do things right. You might be at Newcastle on the Saturday, so you’d have to travel up there on the Friday. After the game you’d travel home and then be in at the training ground on the Sunday for a warm-down. Monday would be a normal training session and then on the Tuesday, let’s say, you’d fly off for a match in Turin. You’d play the game on the Wednesday, and if you were playing away again on the following Saturday you might stay an extra night in Turin and come back on the Thursday. Then on the Friday it would be travelling to wherever you were going to be playing on the Saturday, so there’d be another overnight stay in a hotel before the match the next day. When you play for a top club there’s no time for messing around.

‘Mentally and physically you have to get yourself in tune for a match. The great thing about it is that there’s such a quick turnaround of games, so if you’re down emotionally it doesn’t last long. The thing at United was that you didn’t lose two on the bounce. That was what we always said. So if you lost once you had to get back up and make sure you didn’t lose another one. I always liked playing games and it makes the season go quicker.

‘It took me years, probably until I was twenty-six or twenty-seven, for me to really understand what I was doing, how I needed to get myself up for games. I used to visualise things before matches, visualise what I wanted to do and then play the game. I also tried to make sure I didn’t beat myself up if we were losing – and I never got too high when we were winning. I think that was the thing about Manchester United, that’s why we were able to maintain that level of consistency for all those years.

‘One of the other things we did was never celebrate too hard when we won. When we lost – things like European Cup Finals or FA Cup Finals – they were probably the best nights we had drink-wise. The attitude was, “Let’s just forget that, the match is gone.” When we won things it was all about saying, “Right, next year we’ll be back again and we’ve got to win it again.”