Rio Ferdinand--Five Star--The Biography by Wensley Clarkson Read Free Book Online Page B

Final.
    But Rio was soon getting very frustrated about not starting any matches for the West Ham senior team. ‘Harry maybe thought I was a bit too young and a bit too eager at that stage. I was desperate to get in the first team. I let it get on top of me, thinking about it too much.’
    Rio adored the feeling of a big crowd and in the reserves there were never more than a handful of anoraks on duty. He still says: ‘That’s what I thrive on – hearing the crowd cheering your moves, pushing you on. The fact that people have paid to watch you makes you rise to the occasion.’
    Eventually Harry Redknapp – aware of Rio’s unhappiness – shipped him down to Bournemouth, the south coastThird Division club where he’d once been manager. It turned out to be an inspired move which provided Rio with some essential first-team practice. He also got on extremely well with Bournemouth’s veteran manager, Mel Machin.
    Rio put in some wonderful performances on the pitch but spending his nights in a £31-a-night hotel on half board was a miserable, lonely existence for a lively young Londoner. He was restless and homesick and even had to take his kit home after training every day and wash it. ‘I would sometimes go back to my room at Bournemouth and just sit and watch television in the afternoon. It made me appreciate West Ham and everything about the club. Did me good in other ways too because I learned to face up to all kinds of players.’
    And, as this table shows, Bournemouth remained unbeaten when Rio played for them and Mel Machin was soon raving about Rio down the phone to his old pal Redknapp:
         9-11-96
(A)
BLACKPOOL
1–1
    19-11-96
(H)
BRENTFORD
2–1
    23-1-96
(A)
BURNLEY
1–0
    30-11-96
(H)
LUTON
3–2
    3-12-96
(A)
SHREWSBURY
1–1
    14-12-96
(H)
MILLWALL
1–1
    21-12-96
(A)
CHESTERFIELD
1–1
    26-12-96
(H)
BRISTOL
1–0
    28-12-96
(A)
CREWE
2–0
    11-01-97
(H)
ROTHERHAM
1–1
    Machin christened Rio ‘class’ – literally. ‘I was walking behind him as we went out for training one day and I said, “Hey, Class!” And Rio immediately turned round. He knew who I meant.’ The Bournemouth manager added: ‘Rio hasgot so much natural ability and is so quick that he could play anywhere. He went up front at times for us, but his best position is at the back.’
    Rio was just going into his third month with Bournemouth when he was recalled by Harry Redknapp because West Ham had injuries. Machin told his old pal Redknapp: ‘Don’t be frightened to stick him straight into the Premier League. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how well he’ll cope.’ He also told him that Man United boss Alex Ferguson had been on the telephone asking if he could buy Rio. ‘I told Alex he wasn’t mine to sell,’ he informed the Hammers’ manager.
    ‘I’ll expect a call from him, then,’ replied the wily old fox Redknapp, who knew that West Ham were always open to offers for their players if the price was right.
    So Redknapp hauled Rio back from Dorset at the end of January and plunged him straight into the sort of first-team action he’d been dreaming about for years. First up was the Hammers’ tricky third-round FA Cup replay against Wrexham, earmarked as an opportunity to try out youngsters Rio and his close pal Lampard. There was even talk that Rio might be playing up front because of injuries to three Upton Park strikers.
    In the end Rio made his first full start for West Ham as a defender in that game against Wrexham on 25 January 1997. It was certainly a baptism of fire and although Rio bedded well into the West Ham team, the result was a sickening 1–0 defeat. However, he had done well enough to be picked for the Hammers’ next game. Redknapp had decided to give Rio a proper try-out in the team to find out if Machin was right.
    Rio scored his first goal for West Ham at Blackburn the week after the FA Cup tie at Wrexham. He was – as the oldcliché goes –