Ferdinand verdict just, insists Coe

Olympic gold-medallist Sebastian Coe believes Rio Ferdinand only has himself to blame for the severity of his sentence for missing a drugs test.

The Manchester United defender was banned for eight months and fined £50,000 (€71,000) by an independent disciplinary commission in Bolton yesterday, a punishment described by his club as “savage and unprecedented”.

Critics of the verdict maintain that Ferdinand, as one of the highest profile players in England, is being made an example of.

But Coe told BBC Radio Five Live: “I think it’s inevitable that if you fail to turn up or wilfully refuse a drugs test, that is a doping offence, then it is likely the you are going to be made an example of.

“It would happen in track and field, it is only the third of the sentence that an athlete would have got under similar circumstances.”

Ferdinand drove away from the drugs test at United’s training ground on September 23.

He maintains he forgot and his defenders believe the commission’s decision goes against precedent set in an earlier case when the Manchester City player Christian Negouai only received a £2,000 (€2,800) fine for missing a test when he became stuck in traffic.

However, Coe – who has been asked by the FA to join a think- tank which will examine their doping procedure in the wake of the Ferdinand affair – believes the punishment fits.

He said: “I think it’s the punishment that, on balance, is proportionate and it’s certainly the punishment that will not leave people thinking the FA have gone soft on drugs.”

Coe admitted that Ferdinand’s case will affect any recommendations the think-tank makes.

“I will have to look at the whole situation simply to make sensible observation about the way the FA conducts its doping tests in the future,” he added.