London – Rio Ferdinand “will be dealt with” for embarrassing Sir Alex Ferguson by refusing to wear a Kick It Out T-shirt in blatant disregard for his manager’s wishes.
The Manchester United manager pledged before Saturday’s game that Ferdinand would join the rest of the team in supporting the FA’s anti-racism campaign and seethed at the player’s public defiance.
“I’m very disappointed because I said in the press conference that the players would be wearing it. It’s embarrassing for me,” said Ferguson.
“It had the support of the PFA and every player in the country should have adhered to that from the PFA’s request. We are all wearing the badges and he goes and he lets us down. But we’ll deal with it, don’t worry.”
The Kick It Out campaign was compromised by widespread player protests on Saturday as many reacted to what is perceived as the FA’s lenient punishment of John Terry for his abuse of Anton Ferdinand last year.
Ferdinand was the sole player in the Manchester United squad not to wear the T-shirt over his tracksuit top as he warmed up alongside Wayne Rooney before their home match with Stoke.
The entire Swansea and Wigan squads also shunned the cause, while Joleon Lescott continued his boycott of the campaign.
The Manchester City defender has not worn a Kick It Out T-shirt since 2007 after Newcastle’s Emre Belozoglu escaped punishment at an FA inquiry for allegedly racially abusing Everton’s Joseph Yobo during a game in December 2006.
Lescott, an Everton player at the time, provided written evidence but the charge against Turkey midfielder Emre was not proven. Lescott was joined in his protest on Saturday by City teammate Micah Richards.
The number of players flouting the campaign has grown after the FA handed a four-match ban and a £220,000 fine to Terry for abusing Anton Ferdinand during last year’s Kick It Out action weeks.
Ferdinand’s decision to snub the T-shirt is particularly embarrassing for Ferguson because he criticised Reading striker Jason Roberts – another player who refused to wear the T-shirt – for not backing the cause.
Ferguson suggested Roberts was being arrogant. “I have to disagree with Jason Roberts, he is making the wrong point,” he said on Friday.
“Everyone should be united, all the players in the country wearing the top, the warm-up tops. I do not know what point he is trying to make or trying to put himself on a different pedestal to everyone else.
“He really should be supporting all the rest of the players who are doing something. If you are doing something then everyone who believes in it should do it together, we should not have sheep walking off.”
Swansea manager Michael Laudrup’s stance that wearing the T-shirt should be an individual choice for players was in direct contrast to Ferguson’s views. “The issue isn’t a football one, it’s social,” said Laudrup. “You can’t tell players, ‘You have to do it. You are obliged to do it’.
“This is the opinion of the players [not wearing the shirts]. You have to ask them, not me. There are things you have to leave to each person.”
Other players who did not wear the T-shirts on Saturday included Stoke’s Trinidad striker Kenwyne Jones. There was also controversy at Craven Cottage where Aston Villa striker Darren Bent removed his T-shirt early, before many fans had even taken their seats.
Fabian Delph, another black Aston Villa player, also appeared to take his T-shirt off early and throw it to the ground.
The disquiet among players over Kick It Out is set to continue on Sunday with Everton players Victor Anichebe and Sylvain Distin insisting they will refuse to wear the T-shirts against QPR. Their stance may be backed by more of their team-mates.
With manager David Moyes considering the issue to be a matter of personal choice, the two Evertonians are ready to back Roberts’s boycott.
Nigeria international Anichebe, who believes he was the victim of police racial prejudice when he was detained outside a jewellery shop in 2009, made it clear he would not join this weekend’s campaign.
Anichebe, a devout Christian, said: “Personally I don’t think I will wear it. In fact, I know I won’t. I don’t want to be some poster boy for kicking racism out of football because I don’t even want to talk about situations that have happened.
“Are we really kicking racism out? That’s the thing. I still believe in the same thing. Kick racism out of everything, not just football. Kick it out of everything — society. We are all fighting the same thing, whether you wear a T-shirt or not.”
Anichebe revealed the distress he suffered when playing for Everton in a Europa League tie in Ukraine. “It happened before the game and was probably the worst thing I have ever seen in my life,’ he said.
“I was walking around the pitch with the team and the whole crowd were doing big monkey chanting. It was like they were doing it synchronised, together – it was crazy.
“Everyone was spitting on me, so much it was like it was actually raining.
“I told the guards and they just laughed. I could see where the England boys were coming from this week.” – Mail On Sunday