Rio talks tweets, Roy Keane and misperceptions at Web Summit

Soccer player Rio Ferdinand has confirmed he won’t appeal a three-game ban and £25,000 fine after directing a jibe on Twitter to a follower who had criticised him. The English FA explained the severity of the punishment by saying Ferdinand is a role model.

Speaking on the Sports Stage of the Web Summit in the RDS, Ferdinand explained he wrote the offending tweet, which used the word “sket”, when he was frustrated after a poor display for his club Queen’s Park Rangers.

Interviewed by US broadcaster Jeremy Schaap of ESPN before a large crowd, Ferdinand acknowledged it was a momentary loss of control. “This time it was deemed to have gone over the line, and you have to be mindful of what you say and when you say it.”

With more than six million followers, Ferdinand has a particularly high profile on social media, thanks to his popularity after more than a decade playing with Manchester United.

“The reason I’m on social media is to engage with fans,” he explained. “People have a perception of who you are through the image that’s painted of you through the media...so Twitter allows me to present a real version of myself.

“It has been the biggest thing in my armoury to change the perception of me in the public...I was looked at like a bit of a wide boy when I was younger, being from peckham, delboy, but now I can engage with people directly.”

Asked about how much of an influence former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane had on his career, Ferdinand deadpanned "None", before elaborating that the high standards demanded by the Cork man was key to his improvement after joining the club.

"One of my first training sessions after joining, I got the ball, passed it to Gary Neville, and in any world that was a great ball, but Keano turned around and started screaming at me, 'Pass it forward, take a risk, you're not at Leeds or West Ham, you're at Man United.' And I stood there and thought 'This guy is crazy, man, I passed it to a team-mate.' I went home and thought 'This guy is nuts, how am I going to deal with him on a daily basis.' But then I realised what he said, you've got to start taking risks. He was aggressive in that sense, but I liked that stuff."