Adams to advise on avoiding alcohol

Rio Ferdinand, the 18-year-old West Ham defender who has been dropped from the England soccer squad for the World Cup qualifier against Moldova after receiving a drink-drive ban, is being advised on the dangers of alcohol by Tony Adams, who can speak from first-hand experience. Having served a prison sentence following a drink-drive conviction, Adams later admitted he was an alcoholic. Since then the 31year-old Arsenal captain has led England with distinction in the 1996 European Championship, and he would be in Glenn Hoddle's squad now but for injury.

In fact both Adams and Paul Ince, who is suspended for next Wednesday's match at Wembley, have been brought in by Hoddle this week to study videos and help with the preparations. Clearly the England coach felt that, since Ferdinand had been allowed to stay and train with the squad, here was an opportunity too good to miss.

"Tony's having a chat with Rio and rightly so," the England coach explained. "It took Tony until 30 to find out the lessons. With Rio, at 18, it has to be nipped in the bud now.

"Perhaps if Tony had been dealt with in a different way when he was 18, who knows? He might not have had the problems later on."

Hoddle hopes that Ferdinand will respond to the short, sharp shock of being dropped for the Moldova game. "It needs to be hard," he said. "It needs to go into him personally and he needs to learn from it. I think this is the best way of making the lad understand he's made a mistake. But if he goes and does something else there'll be a problem."

The England coach feels that keeping Ferdinand with the squad, though not of it, will help to bring home to the youngster what he could be missing. "I think the lesson will go home to him a little bit deeper that way," he said. "By keeping him here it makes him understand what he could possibly throw away if makes similar mistakes in future.

"We've had a long chat. He's very disappointed with what he's done. He feels he's let himself down, his club and his family down. It's a hard lesson for him to learn but it's one that sends a signal out to other youngsters.

"Jody Morris of Chelsea had a similar situation a few months back. We pulled him out of the under-21s because at that age we feel it is only right and young players need to learn the lesson." In fact the 18-year-old Morris was one of England's better players in the recent World Youth Cup in Malaysia.

"I'm not saying Rio will never kick a ball for England," Hoddle stressed. "We don't want to crucify the lad. He hasn't killed anyone or shot anybody or robbed a granny. But what he's done needs to be dealt with."

The England coach refused to accept that dropping Ferdinand now, having kept Paul Gascoigne in the squad last November following newspaper allegations of wife-beating, amounted to double standards.

"Was Paul Gascoigne taken to court?" Hoddle demanded. "Was there an assault charge against Paul Gascoigne? There's your answer, I think.

"I felt at that time that Paul needed help, needed to be kept in the squad and needed to understand what he'd done in order to try to change his ways. I didn't think it would be beneficial for a long-term change of ways if we'd just chucked him out."