Why Rio Ferdinand is now suited to coach Manchester United

Rio Ferdinand started his coaching badges around the time it became clear that his career was coming towards an end. Ed Woodward may have been the man to bring that to a close, but it was extended for perhaps a year too long by his season at QPR. There’s no great shame in not knowing when to bring a career to a close - indeed if you write a blog then people on Twitter will be more than happy to tell you never to write ever again, to no avail - but he was probably ready to retire a few months earlier. Ferdinand has recently been proposed, at least in the papers, as a potential new Manchester United coach. There are reasons to have reservations, but those reservations are because the game has changed, not because he is unsuited to how things are these days. In some ways, his appointment makes positive sense, in others it shows how the game is leaving older watchers behind.

There are legitimate reasons for concern. First, to bring him back to a club that he seemingly held to ransom for a new contract appears a slap into the face with fans with a memory. His hanging about with Jose Mourinho during negotiations was as crass as it was effective. Taking the wages during a drugs ban for forgetting to take a test would have been more dignified if he hadn’t then played such conspicuous hardball.

Secondly, there’s no suggestion that he has a fractious relationship with any of the Class of ‘92, Phil Neville, or Alex Ferguson. The ideal candidate as coach would be well away from this group, focused as they are on their own success and how that can be achieved at Manchester United. There is no thought of what is best for the club when it comes to this group, as you can tell from the steady stream of criticism, complaints, and - who knows where from? - leaks in the press to undermine two managers. Ferdinand would be a better choice if he were less chummy with them.

Another thing that some people quite reasonably have a problem for is his past comments, using words such as ‘faggot’ during an interview. Of course, we all make mistakes, and it does appear that Ferdinand has matured in terms of these kind of views. It would be a huge surprise were he to repeat them, to his credit. But he does also tweet about poos, which wouldn’t be the most edifying aspect of a Manchester United coach. His constant, immature online witterings do tend to grate with a particular demographic.

But this disadvantage is, in truth, an advantage for the job, and football as it is now. Show Roy Keane a Twitter timeline and it would be a race to see which exploded first, the vein on the side of his head, or your phone as he launched it into the nearest incinerator. While Keane would be correct to despise Twitter, it is this kind of thing which would make him unsuited to modern football. However depressing some people might find it, today’s footballer is often absolutely obsessed with Twitter and social media. Ferdinand would understand that. Similarly, with his unenjoyable magazine and fatuous ‘5’ caps, his interests are aligned with the new breed of very rich player, often kept away from the real world. It makes sense to have a coach that the players can empathise with.

Because, let’s remember what happened when they had a manager who regarded empathy as the enemy. Other reports since Van Gaal’s sacking, and indeed over the course of last season, gave the impression that they had a manager who absolutely would not listen to others. The video analyst was reportedly despised, and there was no interest in fun. For very rich, young men, it seems daft to deny them fun, rather than to accommodate it. David de Gea would almost certainly have left had Van Gaal stayed, and there would have been many more following him, including the handful of the players worth trying to keep. As inspirational as Mourinho can be, he is divisive and abrasive too. Rui Faria would not provide the soft side to temper emotions, so Ferdinand would have some use.

As well as that, more practically, he could assist with the defence. Chris Smalling is not the player Ferdinand was at the same age, but they do exhibit the same similar lack of concentration. Ferdinand erased that, Smalling hasn’t. Ferdinand became one of the best defenders of his generation, in a brilliantly durable and effective Manchester United defence with Alex Ferguson. Mourinho might often be a defensive manager, and capable of instilling discipline a squad, but he’ll need all the help he can get when he has a look at the clowns in United’s squad.

The old days, where belligerence and aggression in a manager are acceptable or expected, are over. Marcelo Bielsa is now a joke. Ferguson himself acknowledges that he became more measured as the players grew in power. Players are now treated as if they are hugely important, and paid an enormous amount of money. They have responded by creating some of the best football ever in the last decade, but their lack of self-awareness is often seen as grating and self-involved, because it is. It would be tempting to see Keane on the training ground, booting Jesse Lingard six feet in the air for his bus-based tosspottery, but it wouldn’t actually be any use. There will be no return to the days when fear was the premier tool in motivating players. It will understandably annoy people to see Ferdinand as a coach for United than Keane, but that doesn’t change that he certainly is now the most suitable candidate.