Boss role appeals to Ferdinand

Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand has revealed plans to follow Alex Ferguson into management.

Ferdinand may have missed out on the England captaincy to John Terry but United boss Ferguson has earmarked him as a future club skipper and has praised the 29-year-old’s leadership.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs took their UEFA A badges this summer and Ferdinand may be the next in the United production line, with four former players from the club currently managing in the Barclays Premier League.

Ferdinand, talking about the new season with the pundits at the New Football Pools, said: “I love football so I’m sure I’ll be involved in the game in one way shape or form, and as I get older management seems the direction that I’d like to see myself in.”

Victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park got United’s season up and running, and there is now a break for the UEFA Super Cup and international football before getting back to Premier League action.

Ferdinand feels it will be the traditional heavyweights in the top four again this season.

He added: “I think you can’t really look past the normal teams who are about, the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.

“Those three are definitely going to be involved in one way shape or form so as I say you can’t really look too far past them.

“There’s usually one team that comes out of the woodwork, last year it was Everton. Who knows? It might be them again or it might be someone else.”