‘I was p****d off’: Rio Ferdinand reveals unhappiness with Manchester United exit

The club has been criticised for not giving Jesse Lingard an Old Trafford goodbye

Sarah Rendell
Tuesday 17 May 2022 17:18 BST
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Rio Ferdinand has said Manchester United are bad at saying farewell to players
Rio Ferdinand has said Manchester United are bad at saying farewell to players (Getty Images)

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Rio Ferdinand has said Manchester United are one of the worst clubs for giving players a good farewell and that he was “p****d off” with how his own exit played out.

The former defender was speaking in light of how Jesse Lingard was not played in what many believe was his final home game. He was named on the bench but was not given the opportunity to come on to bid farewell to the Old Trafford crowd. It is not known where he will end up this summer, but it’s thought he will leave the Premier League side.

“I think United are one of the worst at doing it,” Ferdinand said on his Vibe with Five podcast. “You see clubs abroad when players who have given big chunks of their career, been successful to the clubs... the send-offs they get are phenomenal, and rightly so.

“But it’s not something… United don’t really treat it with the kind of importance you see at other clubs. I’m not saying you deserve it, but sometimes when you feel you’ve given a lot of yourself to a football club, it’s a nice way to go.

“But it happens, I was actually p****d off for a while with the way I got told. I’m over it now, it’s cool.”

Ferdinand left United in 2014 after 12 years at the club to move to Queens Park Rangers.

Lingard’s brother criticised interim manager Ralf Rangnick for not giving his sibling a fitting send-off, and the interim manager responded: “To start with, in the last couple of weeks under my tenure he has played far more games than he used to.

“Secondly, on game day against Chelsea [on 28 April], he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons.

“And this was the reason. With only three substitutes I had to take a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard, or [Alejandro Garnacho], who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play.

“I took the decision to bring on Edinson. Had I not brought on Edinson, someone else might have asked if it’s classless not to bring on Cavani or Garnacho. You have to take a decision, and this will not be to the liking of everybody, and this is part of the game.”

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