Rio's keen to be captain

Manchester United captain-in-waiting Rio Ferdinand has admitted he would be stupid to turn down the skipper’s armband at Old Trafford.

While Roy Keane has no immediate intention of relinquishing the captain’s responsibility he has held for the past seven years, Red Devils boss Alex Ferguson gave a clear indication of his thoughts for the future by letting Ferdinand lead his side out against Fenerbahce on Tuesday.

Ferdinand has already held down the position at Leeds with success and is viewed as a future England captain by Sven-Goran Eriksson, who is expected to offer the defender an immediate recall for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Azerbaijan.

Ferguson obviously shares the same opinion as Eriksson about the 25-year-old’s leadership qualities and after seeing the defender come through the first two games of the comeback from his eight-month suspension had no hesitation in naming him as captain against the Turks, even though Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville were also in the starting line-up.

Ferdinand insisted he is happy to remain in the ranks behind Keane for as long as the Irishman remains with the Red Devils.

But, with Keane now beyond his 32nd birthday the time for a switch is not far away and the £29million defender has confirmed he would be willing to take the job.

“I would be stupid not to accept the captaincy if it was offered further down the line,” he said.

“It was an unbelievable feeling to lead the team out on Tuesday. I didn’t know anything about it and I was delighted to be asked to follow the long line of players who have led out a team with such great character and great history.

“To walk out of the tunnel first was great but I will have no problem walking behind Roy Keane against Middlesbrough on Sunday.

“Roy had been a fantastic captain of this club. He has been here for many years and won lots of trophies. The longer he stays here, the better it is for Manchester United.”

While Ferdinand will have to be patient if he is to eventually succeed Keane, the honour Ferguson bestowed on him, virtually 12 months to the day since his failure to attend a routine drugs test landed him in such unexpected trouble, is further proof of the Scot’s unswerving loyalty.

Ferdinand has already said he owes his manager a huge debt for standing by him during his personal crisis, although he admitted that at no stage did he ever feel Ferguson was not completely supportive of his case.

“To be asked to captain the team just a week after coming off an eight-month ban was a great thing for me,” he said.

“It’s another example of the way people’s faith in me never wavered during the time I was out of the side.

“The way the people treated me at the training ground, the fans, the players and the staff were all first class.”

Already Ferdinand has brought a stability to United’s rearguard that had been badly missed during his absence.

Even on Tuesday, as Fenerbahce poured forward looking to launch an unlikely comeback, the Red Devils defence failed to buckle completely as it might have done during weeks gone by.

Ferdinand knows he is still some way show of full match sharpness but the organisational qualities that make him such a good captain have bolstered a defence that threatened to cost United any chance of the title before the season was even a month old.

It can hardly be a coincidence that a side that had won just one league game and a couple of low-key Champions League qualifiers all season has suddenly recorded three victories on the trot since Ferdinand returned.

Diplomatically though, the Londoner plays down the impact he has made.

“It is early days into my comeback and the more games I play, the better I will feel,” he said.

“I can’t do anything about it if people want to assume the improvement is something to do with me – I certainly don’t look at the situation in that way.

“Nothing is going to be ironed out in defence overnight. If we have problems at the back it will take longer than one week on the training pitch to correct them.

“All I am thinking about is winning more games and gaining more confidence.

“I am just glad to be back among some great players. The better the results, the happier I will be.”