Former Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand was signed on this day in 2008. He made just shy of a century of appearances for Sunderland, with 95.
Being raised in a footballing family can’t always be easy – in fact I imagine it brings a lot of pressure. Especially so when your brother is Rio Ferdinand and your cousin is Les Ferdinand. It’s a good job Anton also has a younger cousin who plays in non-league, Kane Ferdinand, or else the achievements of the other two would very much overshadow his own.
Despite the potential pressure, Anton had a decent start to his career. He joined West Ham at age 9 and made his debut in the 2003-04 season. The following season he was a mainstay in West Ham’s promotion charge. The young defender played very well and his goal on the final day of the season in a 2-1 victory against Watford, secured a Play-Off place for West Ham. In the final, West Ham beat Preston 1–0, earning them promotion back into the Premier League after two years in the Championship.
Ferdinand earned a new contract and his career went from strength to strength for a while . He followed after his brother Rio in being named Premier League Player of the Month in January 2006. They became the first brothers to win the award. In the FA Cup final of the same year, Anton missed the deciding penalty against Liverpool. Bizarrely, Anton Ferdinand was linked with a move to then Spanish champions Barcelona. That Barcelona team in the 2005-06 season is absolutely insane – mainstay’s such as Puyol, Iniesta, Messi, Valdez and Deco as well as Samuel Eto’o, Henrik Larsson and er... Jordi Gomez. As we all know, the move didn’t come about and Ferdinand’s next club was us. I guess it’s easier to replace Danny Collins or Nyron Nosworthy than the legendary Puyol.
On 27 August 2008, Keano signed Ferdinand for an undisclosed fee on a four-year deal. The manager touted him as a future England star, but Anton never made an appearance for the national team. He quickly formed a partnership with Danny Collins but we shipped in a lot of goals at the start of the 2008–09 season and Keane alternated defenders to try and find a decent back four. Ferdinand was in and out of the team and fell out of favour with new manager Steve Bruce, who didn’t even give him a squad number initially. The infinitely better John Mensah was given Ferdinand's number 5 shirt when he was here on loan. In fact, it’s crazy to think Anton made so many appearances in his time here. 10 came as a substitute, but still Anton Ferdinand starting 85 games for us makes me scratch my head trying to think about any memorable performances.
Anton recalled his conversation with Keano who allegedly told him:
'Listen Anton, outside of the four or five best centre-backs, you're talking your brother, John Terry, Jamie Carragher, Johnathan Woodgate, Ledley King, outside of those guys you should be next on the list of playing for England. You're not being spoken about and I can get you there.'
You could argue Steve Bruce hampered Anton’s development, but he only showed fleeting glimpses of ever being a decent defender and his England cap remained elusive. Bruce had told him so long as he was in charge, his deal would not be renewed.
Soon, QPR were in for the defender and off he went back home to London. He struggled for a place in the side and the only thing to remember his time there by is extremely unfortunate – John Terry’s racial abuse targeted towards him. The Metropolitan Police announced a formal investigation into the incident. Terry was accused, in a court case, of a racially aggravated public order offence in relation to the game at Loftus Road. He was acquitted very dubiously as video evidence proved that he had uttered an awful slur at Anton.
In July, following the court hearing Terry was charged by the FA with "using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Ferdinand and which included a reference to colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3[2]". In September 2012, after a four-day hearing, he was found guilty and banned for four games and fined £220,000. Despite Chelsea's 'zero tolerance' policy, Terry got off incredibly lightly and remained captain for the rest of his career. Just goes to show how seriously racism is taken in sport.
It’s a pity that a summation of Ferdinand’s career simply has to include this awful incident, but it is a clear reminder about the need for equality in today’s game and how the taking of the knee reminds us each game of the work still to be done.
In 2013, Ferdinand was released by QPR as the team were relegated. From exiting the Premier League, he went on to have a stop-start career in Turkey with Bursaspor and Antalyaspor, hardly playing any games and being released at both clubs. The man once tipped for England had a real nosedive and was plummeting fast.
His career, from an observer’s point of view, appeared completely finished when he was unveiled as a new signing for Bangkok’s ‘Police United’ in 2014. He said former QPR teammate Jay Bothroyd, who played for Muangthong United, convinced him to move to Thailand. However, the deal fell through in bizarre fashion and Ferdinand ended up at Police United’s partner club instead, despite making the trip to Thailand to be unveiled.
His spells at Reading, Southend and St Mirren were uneventful and it's fair to say his early potential was never realised. Since retiring, Ferdinand was subject of the documentary Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me in which he charts his own story of suffering racist abuse and theorises about what needs to be done to address the problem of racism in the game today. He also confronts the online abuse he has experienced since, which has affected his mental health, his career and the lives of his loved ones as well as reflecting candidly about the John Terry incident. It is great that Anton is doing important work off the pitch, even if he was incredibly average on it.
