Palios backs Rio ruling

Football Association chief executive Mark Palios has defended the decision to hand out an eight-month ban to Rio Ferdinand for failing to take a drugs test.

Manchester United branded the sentence as “savage and unprecedented” following this month’s hearing in front of an independent three-man panel at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.

However, Palios insists it was right to make an example of England defender Ferdinand in order to ensure such a thing does not happen again.

Palios told the News of the World: “I didn’t feel pleased or vindicated. I actually felt quite sad because I know, up until now, football has been the loser. So I’m not looking to rub peoples’ noses in it or say ‘I told you so’.

“But if there is a positive in what has been a difficult year it is that we are at last on the right road.

“After this case, I don’t think any club will allow a player to miss a drugs test again – and if a bus runs over me tomorrow and that is all we ever achieve then it was worth it for that.”

Palios is also adamant that the FA had no option but to omit Ferdinand from the England squad to face Turkey in October when the controversy first erupted over his missed drugs test on September 23.

“I hope it’s now understood that had we picked Rio for the Turkey game, the Association and the England team would have been compromised,” added Palios.

Ferdinand’s ban will come into force from January 12, although the player has until a week before that date to lodge an appeal.

Palios admitted the delay between the offence taking place and the player being sentenced was unacceptable and has vowed to speed up the FA’s disciplinary procedures.

He said: “One of the things we found with Ferdinand is that we had this rather pointless meeting about whether to charge, even though rules had clearly been broken.

“So, that is the type of thing that could go.”