FA plays for high stakes as rival sides await battle

The Hearing

Eighty-six days ago, Rio Ferdinand went shopping when he should have been providing a sample for drug-testing. Today, at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, he will finally explain why.

At stake is his reputation, his place in the England team for the European Championship, the Football Association's credibility and, possibly, the destiny of the Premiership and Champions' League. A three-man panel, selected from the FA's disciplinary committee but theoretically independent of the executive, will begin hearing evidence at 11am today and hopes to be able to deliver a verdict tomorrow evening.

Reflecting the high stakes, both sides have hired experienced and expensive barristers. The FA has enlisted Mark Gay, who successfully prosecuted Mark Bosnich after the then Chelsea goalkeeper tested positive for cocaine. Gay is a specialist in doping control and sports governance.

His case is a straightforward one: on 23 September, two dope testers from UK Sport, working on behalf of the FA, arrived at Carrington, Manchester United's training ground. The squad names were put into a hat and four were drawn. They included Ferdinand. The quartet were informed, while training, that they would need to provide a sample before leaving Carrington. Ferdinand alone failed to do this. That, in itself, is an offence, regarded in many sports as equivalent to testing positive. For that reason, Gay will argue, Ferdinand must be found guilty and punished, with a three-month ban the minimum.

United will then field Maurice Watkins, a club director and their in-house lawyer, and a courtroom expert, Ronald Thwaites. A celebrated defence barrister, his previous clients include Jonathan King, the pop mogul whom he unsuccessfully defended against child sex offences. He will argue that Ferdinand is guilty of nothing more than forgetfulness, that when he realised his error he volunteered to return, only to be told the testers were not prepared to wait. He underwent a test two days later and was clean.

Then the written evidence, including telephone records from Ferdinand's mobile, will be assessed and the witnesses, eyewitnesses, expert witnesses and character witnesses, called. The prosecution will highlight the possibilities allowed by the delay for flushing drugs through the body. The defence will feature the case of Manchester City's Christian Negouai. He received a fine after failing to provide a sample, having been delayed collecting his mother at the airport on his way to the test.

The case could go on until Monday, which is hardly surprising for when Ferdinand missed the test he set in motion a train of events he could never have imagined. At one point the England team, full of self-righteous indignation at Ferdinand's omission from the squad to play Turkey, threatened to strike. Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, the world governing body, has waded in, thrilled at the chance to hammer both one of the big clubs who resent his pre-eminence, and an FA which tried to end it.

The FA's processes have come under scrutiny and failed the test, notably when Alan Smith was added to, then withdrawn, from the next England squad because he was on police bail, only to be replaced by James Beattie, halfway through a drink-driving conviction. That fiasco cost Mark Palios, the FA's new chief executive, any credit he had gained from staring down the strike threat and contributed to the departure of Paul Barber, the head of marketing and media.

The Professional Footballers' Association has joined the fray acting, uncharacteristically, like an old-style union. In failing to recognise that Ferdinand has brought this upon himself, and that the FA had little choice but to omit him, it bears comparison with the Rail Maritime and Transport union which yesterday pledged further strike action to defend a tube driver sacked after playing squash when off sick with an injured leg.

Only yesterday Gordon Taylor, the PFA chief executive who is expected to speak in favour of Ferdinand, said: "I don't want to pre-judge the hearing but it appears the FA feel they have to put a marker down. I believe they will look to make Rio a scapegoat. If that happens, it would be extremely unfair."

Through it all Ferdinand, this flaky figure who cannot even remember the route to work according to his supporters, has played superbly. He has faltered once, in Stuttgart before the situation became public, but has since been at the core of a miserly United defence.

Thus the possible presence, as a character witness, of Sven Goran Eriksson. The England coach has criticised the slow pace of the inquiry, and suggested players who fail drug tests should be suspended immediately, but he refrained from criticising the players when they backed Ferdinand, or Ferdinand by name. Eriksson is acutely aware that England have too few world-class players to dispense casually with the defender. However, if a ban extends to the end of April it will be hard for him to pick Ferdinand on grounds of form and fitness. There will be those who will argue he should not be selected on ethical grounds either, but Eriksson will reason that a precedent was set when players such as Edgar Davids and Jaap Stam renewed international careers after testing positive for drugs.

Manchester United have an even keener interest in Ferdinand continuing to play. They have not only protested his innocence but have also sought to prolong proceedings whenever possible. It is thought this is not unconnected to the previous unavailability of Wes Brown. The England defender, perfect cover for Ferdinand, has been out for seven months but played an hour for the reserves last week and is soon expected to be ready for a first-team return. Should Ferdinand be found guilty, United would have until around 5 January to lodge an appeal - though it will be mid-January before it would be held. By then Brown should be ready.

Today's panel will be chaired by Barry Bright of the Kent FA, the chairman of the FA's disciplinary committee and the man who banned Roy Keane for eight games last year following the admission, in his autobiography, that he deliberately sought to injure Alf-Inge Haaland. Bright will be partnered by two other members of the committee, which is largely drawn from the amateur game, chosen for their knowledge of doping control issues.

One outcome is certain. In Korea 19 months ago, ahead of the World Cup, Ferdinand said he wished to have his name recognised around the world. He played well enough to go some way towards that ambition, and the word was spread a little more when United paid Leeds £30m for him. But only now is he a household name even in houses where football is not followed.