Rio Ferdinand baffled by what Leeds United fans did to him right before his eyes
Rio Ferdinand has revealed he was taken aback by how “angry” the Leeds United fans were with him when he was working on one of their games within the past year.
Speaking on the BBC’s Seven: Rob Burrow, the podcast on Wednesday (13 December), the ex-Whites defender said he wasn’t a “local Leeds lad” so he didn’t get the rivalry when he made his £30million move to Manchester United in 2002.
But the former England international insisted that the club had to sell him due to the financial situation at Elland Road as he called on the fans to “understand the situation and context” of why he made the move to Old Trafford.
“About six months to a year ago I did a game and the Leeds away fans were just in front of me,” said Ferdinand. “I swear to you I was taken aback by how upset and angry they still are with me. This transfer was over 20 years ago and I’m thinking ‘are you still upset about this?’.
“Unfortunately the club was run a particular way that they had to sell all of the assets. They had to sell me. I had to go. So it didn’t matter where I was going.
“I wasn’t a local Leeds lad so I didn’t really understand the rivalry. I chose to go to the best club which had the best opportunity for me to win and that was Manchester United, and that decision proved to be right because I was very successful there and won so many things.
“I understand the rivalry, but sometimes you’ve got to understand the situation and the context.”
Never going to forget
This is a transfer that Leeds fans are never going to forget as Ferdinand joining Man United was seen as a betrayal by the vast majority.
While he perhaps didn’t have a choice about being sold due to the club’s financial situation back then, there were other moves he could have made that the Whites fans would have respected.
It just comes with the territory that when you make that move, you’re always going to be thought of negatively by the supporters and, in this instance, it was a high-profile transfer.
Although the ex-defender doesn’t seem to have any regrets about making the switch after he won an awful lot with the Red Devils, he does appear to be hurt by the anger the fans still feel towards him.
It’s just something he’s going to have to live with if the situation comes about again as he’s never going to be seen in West Yorkshire as anything other than that player who jumped ship to join Man United when times were tough.
In other Leeds United news, Phillips was wowed by one Whites star despite the defeat to Sunderland.