Ferdinand ban 'could have been' less severe

SOCCER: Rio Ferdinand should have pleaded guilty in order to reduce the length of his punishment for missing a drugs test, the PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said yesterday.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Taylor said that if Ferdinand had conceded he was at fault and had the PFA been informed on the day the test was missed the case could have been resolved more speedily.

Asked if he thought that had Ferdinand "held up his hands" the eight-month ban would have been shorter, Taylor said: "I don't think it (the ban) would have been severe and I wish that that situation could have happened and I wish that we had been informed on that day as we're supposed to be partners in the drug testing procedure and I would have hoped that we could have sorted it there and then."

Taylor's comments are in marked contrast to his approach to the affair before last week's hearing. He has been fiercely critical of the FA's handling of the case and described the ban as "very draconian".

Taylor refused to accept that failing to provide a sample should be treated in the same way as failing a test, a principle that underpins FA and FIFA doping regulations. He also called for the disciplinary procedure to be speeded up.

"We have had disciplinary hearings taking more than 12 months, and this one is still going on and that can't be good enough," he said. "For a player to miss eight months when he is fit, there is no stronger penalty that I have heard of."

Bobby Charlton summed up United's lingering sense of resentment. "It's a great tragedy that a young player can have a great big chunk of his career taken away like that," he said.

Ferdinand received written notification of the disciplinary panel's decision yesterday and has 14 working days - until January 12th - to lodge an appeal. His lawyer, the United director Maurice Watkins, has said it is inevitable.

The committee formed to review the FA's doping control procedures will include most of the key figures responsible for prosecuting the Ferdinand case. The lawyer who prosecuted the case and two members of the disciplinary panel will join the committee, which includes Sebastian Coe, in rewriting regulations that have been exposed as woolly and inadequate.

The members of the Ferdinand disciplinary panel who will review the regulations are Peter Herd, the Colchester chairman and chair of the FA's medical committee, and Barry Bright, chair of the disciplinary committee. Herd will chair the review panel.

They will be joined by Mark Gay, who prosecuted the Ferdinand case and is a partner at the FA's solicitors Denton Wilde Sapte. The Professional Footballers' Association will be represented by John Bramhall, its doping control expert. Bramhall sat in on the Ferdinand case as an independent observer.

Brendon Batson will join the review panel as part of his examination of the FA's disciplinary procedures. Alan Hodson, the FA's head of medicine and the leading sports lawyer Nick Bittel complete the panel.

Coe has indicated that it will take until the summer to review the procedures.

In his first public comments since the punishment was announced the FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he welcomed the decision. "I have noted with satisfaction that this case has finally been dealt with and a decision passed," he said.

Meanwhile, Prof John McKenzie's spell as Leeds United chairman will be brought to a close today amid the sort of acrimony and controversy for which he is destined to be remembered.

McKenzie will not stand for re-election at the club's a.g.m., the timing of which, so close to Christmas, has led to accusations of it being "stage-managed" to deter shareholders from attending.

McKenzie can still expect a rough ride, this being the first chance that shareholders have had to grill the men in power at Elland Road since the club admitted they are in danger of going into administration.

However, the numbers will be well down on last year's meeting when around 300 shareholders turned up to question McKenzie's predecessor Peter Ridsdale.

"The board want to avoid getting any flak so they have timed it deliberately for a Tuesday morning, two days before Christmas, to keep people away," said John Boocock, the chairman of the Leeds United Supporters' Trust

Trevor Birch has been working towards selling the club before the January 19th deadline that has been agreed to pay off their main creditors. If no buyer can be found by then, administration would be a near certainty.

Guardian Service