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

act. Before too long, the opposition will be calling them the Gruesome Twosome!’ he said.
    And Venables even pronounced on Rio’s drink driving: ‘… these things happen. Glenn has taken the bull and Rio will have learned a lot from all this. Rio’s ability is beyond doubt. I look at him and Sol and see a new type of English defender. They are good examples of the way our attitude towards bringing on young defenders is changing for the better. For too long we failed to train players at the back from a young age to bring the ball out of defence and contribute in a more all-round fashion – as they have been doing in Brazil and Holland for years.
    ‘I have believed for some years that we have to take ashort cut and play players at the back who have come from forward positions. Both Rio and Sol were centre-forwards at one time and that is a real help. At Spurs we always tried to get the kids to play an all-round game and it’s the same with Rio at West Ham. These boys have had real education – playing football and not specialising as a stereotype English centre-half or full-back. You specialise eventually. And, as we have seen with Rio and Sol, you are all the better for it. Obviously, it’s up to Glenn and any future England coach to decide the best way to use them.
    ‘But I can’t see the slightest problem – whether it’s three at the back or as the central two in the back four. Both are very mobile, very good on the ball, excellent defenders and strong in the air. You could probably play them both in midfield as well. With boys like these around, the future looks absolutely A1 for England. Glenn’s a lucky man.’
    Sol Campbell knew only too well how costly the smallest defensive slip could be – and that was on the field of play. His tardy intervention had gifted Gianfranco Zola with a simple goal that enabled Italy to humble England 1–0 at Wembley, leaving the team’s chances of qualifying for the 1998 World Cup on a knife edge.
    But Campbell later insisted he had used that appalling error as a stimulus to learn and improve. England coach Hoddle even compared Campbell to France’s Marcel Desailly. Back at West Ham, Rio had always admired Sol’s ability to win the ball and then use it effectively instead of just hoofing it up the park. The entire concept of a defender who did not just automatically locate the roof of the stand on winning the ball was one that Rio fully appreciated.
     
    At the England training camp at Bisham Abbey, Hoddle encouraged old England stalwart Tony Adams to have achat with Rio. As he later pointed out: ‘It took Tony until he got to 30 to find the lesson that Rio has had now. It has to be good for the boy to speak to someone like Tony, who’s been through it and can explain what it means.’ Adams approached Rio when both players turned up for squad training. A rib injury had ruled the Arsenal skipper out of the Moldova World Cup tie. Three matches short of a half century of caps, Adams was England’s longest-serving player and the only international to have played in the same team as Hoddle. Adams knew all about the pressure on the youngsters and how it could affect their future.
    Later Adams said: ‘I think the most significant change in my time has been towards youth. Although in some ways I think the younger players in the squad are a bit luckier than I was when I was first called up. Today the senior players in the squad are far more helpful to the youngsters. They’re more generous and giving. I understand that it can be difficult because there’s always someone younger than you pushing for your place. You have to be realistic, though. You have to swallow your pride.’
    Adams helped counsel Rio and showed a real concern that the teenager might fall victim to the sort of temptations that landed him in jail for drink-driving. ‘Rio is very much a reflection of me. I fear for him,’ he said at the time. ‘I fear for what this whole business can do to him. If he