Anton’s growing pains help focus on pitch

Jan 10 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

Anton Ferdinand is not your stereotypical Premier League footballer. His improvement on the field since signing for Sunderland has been matched off it, reports Mark Douglas

SALVATION from the naked greed and unvarnished ambition of football’s January transfer window can arrive in the most unlikely of places.

After a week in which Jermaine Defoe demanded a £700,000 ‘loyalty’ bonus for twelve month’s work at Portsmouth, Cristiano Ronaldo walked away from his wrecked Ferrari into a waiting £140,000 Bentley and Charles N’Zogbia claimed Arsenal were waiting to rescue him from his Newcastle United ‘hell’, it would be sorely tempting to conclude that the gap between Premier League footballers and reality is beyond repair.

Football has made Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand a millionaire too but, surprisingly perhaps, he provides a refreshing antidote to the self interest of some of his top flight colleagues.

Yes, that would be the same Ferdinand who was branded as one of ‘Baby Bentley brigade’ that Alan Curbishley inherited at West Ham United, the same Ferdinand who wound up in court two years ago for a nightclub confrontation that spiraled out of control and the same Ferdinand who got into trouble for travelling to the US to celebrate his birthday without permission as his old club battled relegation.

The 23-year-old is the first to admit he has suffered some very public growing pains, but his move to Sunderland has helped him mature and shed his self-confessed reputation as a “mummy’s boy”.

And, having experienced the lows of life in the spotlight, he is acutely aware of the privileged position he occupies and the responsibilities it brings.

That is why charity work and cooking have replaced clubbing as his main pastime off the pitch, and why Ferdinand is in the process of setting up a scheme to help recently released prisoners get back to work.

“I'm very big into the issues of knife and gun crime and the youth of today. I have friends that are inside at the moment – I have visited a young friend called James – and I'm looking to change their life by helping them as soon as they come out of prison. I want to help them get a job,” he said.

“One of my friends has a business, and we're trying to make sure they can get involved with that and help there so they stay off the streets. I want to try to put them on the right track. I'm in the middle of trying to sort out a scheme for kids that come out of prison.

“I like to help people that are in sticky situations, because I have been in those situations myself. I haven't been in prison, but I've had to go to court, so I understand to a certain extent what they are going through.”

It will not be the first time that Ferdinand has attempted to tackle societies’ ills. He is seeking a follow-up chat with Gordon Brown on the issue that he first broached during a ‘Kick It Out’ seminar at Downing Street last year.

And he is actively involved in the Ugandan soccer school that was set up by his dad Julian, paying over the summer to see the work being done in underprivileged communities in Africa.

In the dust of the bare playing pitches over there, he discovered a dedication among the young players which convinced him that he must work harder to achieve his potential.

Ferdinand freely admits he was not the most technically gifted of his class but thanks to his family and the world-renowned youth coaches at West Ham he has a strong work ethic.

He admits it is not a characteristic shared by all of the young players he knows.

“I've seen the way the African players work and train with my own eyes because I went to Uganda in the summer. The way they take things in is unbelievable,” he said.

It has not always been that way – words of advice from his brother helped change his attitude.

“If I emulate what Rio has done, I will have a great career,” he said.

“In an interview I saw a couple of weeks ago, he said that he's always told me not to go out nightclubbing and stuff as much as I did.

“As a footballer, he's always said you have to conserve as much energy as you can. At the time, I thought it was a load of rubbish.

“But now I've grown up, I appreciate it more. I don't go out half as much as I used to. There are times to let your hair down, but you have to be responsible.”

When Ferdinand’s name was first linked with Sunderland over the summer, most of the reports reasoned that his unwillingness to leave the capital would be the biggest barrier to the move.

His entire life had spent living and working a few miles away from his birthplace of Peckham and a move to the North East was simply too far away from his comfort zone.

Not the case, argues Ferdinand. In fact, he prefers living in a region where people offer support when he is out and about but for the most part leave him to get on with his everyday business.

“The North-East has surprised me. I've said to a lot of my friends that the people are the main difference, they're a lot friendlier and a lot nicer to people in the public eye

“It's been a big change with me having been in London all my life, but it's been a change that's been well overdue.I miss my family but I’m glad I moved.”

His positive outlook since moving to Wearside has only been darkened once, by the resignation of Roy Keane.

Keane’s towering reputation was one of Sunderland’s major selling points and Ferdinand did not belong to the block of players who had supposedly grown weary of his autocratic approach to management.

Ferdinand retains nothing but respect for his former manager, who he maintains he was sad to see depart.

"Him leaving was a big upset for me, but one thing's for sure, in that short space of time I worked with him, I learned a lot,” he said.

“I learned about professionalism and about how to prepare for games. Just through the way he talks, I think I got mentally stronger. “He showed me the things you need to be a top player, and I thank him for that. It was a sad day for me to see him go, but that was his decision.

“It's a new chapter now. We have a new gaffer in Ricky and the boys are enjoying life.”

A bit like Ferdinand himself.