Ex fans chief claims Fergie losing his grip

A former Manchester United supporters’ chief believes Alex Ferguson’s continued faith in contract rebel Rio Ferdinand is indicative of the Scot losing his authority over team affairs.

Jonny Flacks, a United season ticket-holder since 1966 and a former chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters’ Association [IMUSA], feels fans are justified in booing Ferdinand, who has yet to accept the offer of a new contract reportedly worth £100,000 (€145,000).

Ferdinand is now alleged to have reacted to the abuse by flicking a V-sign at supporters after the friendly against Kashima Antlers in Tokyo yesterday.

He also clashed with team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy after the game and Flacks believes it suggests an overall lack of discipline in the United squad.

“Ferguson seems to have lost his authority,” he said. “Players are taking liberties they were certainly not taking a few years ago. If I were manager of Manchester United not only would I have not played [Rio] in the FA Cup final, I would not have taken him on the [Far East] tour either.

“I would treat him with the disdain with which he has treated us. A strong manager would turn around to him and say ‘I’m not playing you until you sort yourself out one way or the other’.”

Flacks urged the club to view August 31 as Ferdinand’s last opportunity to take what is on offer at United or sell him on.

“If he has not made up his mind by August 31, from that day onwards his value goes down, down, down,” he added.

“If he wants to stay or go it has got to be decided by that day because from a value point of view United have invested an awful lot of money in him - £30m (€43.5m) plus three years’ wages and they have only had two years and four months out of that.

“His value is going down daily so it has got to be sorted out. It is nothing to do with agents, Rio has the power to say: ‘I want to go’ or: ‘I want to stay’.”

Whether he stays or goes, Flacks insists Ferdinand has not been a big hit with fans.

“He is not what I would call a typical centre-half. He doesn’t want to go in where he could get hurt, that was illustrated perfectly when we played away to Everton in the league last season and Duncan Ferguson stooped to head the ball in and Rio just stood off him,” he said.

“The transfer fee we paid was grossly over the top. He is just another one of these central defenders who likes to read the game. I’m not saying he’s not a good footballer, but he isn’t a great, or even good, defender.”

Ferdinand’s big-money reputation was built by a series of impressive displays at the 2002 World Cup, but Flacks believes those performances should come with a health warning.

“If you look at that World Cup tournament people like [El-Hadji] Diouf was also highly rated, so I don’t think that’s a guide to anything,” he said.

“Looking at players in tournaments like that can be very misleading. Players often come into tournaments like that tired, you see players like [Zinedine] Zidane who looked a shadow of his former self at the last World Cup. If Ferdinand’s worth is being judged on that then it is very naive of the people making that judgement.”