Almost three months after missing a drugs test, Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand arrived an hour early for the hearing which will decide his immediate future.
Ferdinand is facing an independent disciplinary commission, set up by the Football Association, to face a charge of misconduct for "failing or refusing" to take the test at United's Carrington training ground on September 23rd.
The hearing, scheduled to take two days, is taking place at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium. A decision is expected late tomorrow afternoon.
Ferdinand entered the ground 60 minutes ahead of the scheduled start, wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie. The England international was accompanied by solicitor and Manchester United director Maurice Watkins and Ronald Thwaites QC, who is heading the player's defence.
Watkins and Thwaites had earlier been to the training ground, with the three members of the commission: FA board members Barry Bright, Peter Heard and Frank Pattison along with Steve Barrow, head of the FA's compliance unit, to look at the site where Ferdinand's drugs test should have taken place.
All parties then assembled at the stadium in Bolton to start proceedings, with Barrow due to outline the FA's case first.
Ferdinand's defence is expected to include representations from several witnesses, including United manager Alex Ferguson. A written character reference from England manager Sven Goran Eriksson, with the full authority of his employers - the FA - will also be given to the commission, which is headed by Bright, the FA's most experienced disciplinary officer.
The hearing, likely to centre around whether Ferdinand failed to take the test because he forgot at the time, or refused to undergo the test, is one of the highest profile cases in English football history.
Ferdinand, the world's most expensive defender who cost Manchester United £30 million when they bought him from Leeds United in July 2002, contacted the FA after realising he had missed the test, which was taken by three of his team mates following a training session.
He passed a test 36 hours later and has strongly denied ever using drugs. But the FA have since excluded him from England matches and are under pressure from FIFA to punish the player.
The FA has already been criticised by the English players' union for their handling of the case and will face a strong defence of their player from United and his legal team.