Simon Jordan has recounted his brutally honest response to Rio Ferdinand after being confronted by the Manchester United legend. The former Crystal Palace chairman, now a talkSPORT pundit, is renowned for sharing his candid views.
The discussion about players or pundits approaching media figures stems from recent revelations of similar incidents by Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher on The Overlap Fan Debate. In Scholes’ instance, the United icon revealed that a current squad member requested a meeting at the training ground to discuss some of his remarks, but the player never followed through with his proposal. On the same topic, Gary Neville disclosed on the Stick to Football podcast that he has spoken to several players about his analysis. However, Jordan confessed to not backing down when asked about his comments regarding Ferdinand’s punditry work.
“I remember Rio Ferdinand coming up to me at the boxing and saying, ‘why do you have a go at me constantly?’ Because I expect better from you [Rio],” Jordan said on talkSPORT.
“You have the ability to give us more insight and you sit there with a load of old nonsense, trotting out your ambassadorial tripe because you’re in the pocket of Man United. If you’re going to be on television, say something meaningful.
“Nothing to do with me, but the next time he was on television, it was a Champions League commentary and it was brilliant with Joe Cole. I remember sending him a text saying, ‘that’s brilliant. That’s what people would pay to listen to’.”
Despite Jordan’s claim, Ferdinand does not work for United. Nonetheless, the talkSPORT pundit believes many figures around the sport struggle to accept constructive feedback.
“We live in a society where people are too fragile and not resilient enough,” Jordan said. “There’s something admirable about people that can say that criticism was fair and I’m going to approach in that fashion rather than being a child about it and say any criticism is off bounds.”
The former Palace chairman empathises with players battling against unjust narratives but maintains he has never crossed the line during his media career. On the other hand, Scholes suggested there has been a generational change in how Premier League stars respond to criticism, citing his interaction with a member of the United squad.
“Players can be a little bit sensitive these days,” Scholes argued. “I had a [United] player, this year, who reached out to me and wasn’t pleased with some of the things I’d said.
“He wanted to meet me at the training ground, and I said, ‘of course, no problem’, and gave him my number but he never got back to me.
“I would have done it. If I’m saying things I believe and he wants me to explain why, it wouldn’t have been a nice conversation, but I said if they or anyone else has a problem, there’s my phone number.”
Scholes has vocalised that his role as a pundit during trying times for United can paint him in an unfavourable light. “It’d be so easy if you were a Manchester City player for the last 10 years. Where we are now, it makes you look like a bit of a villain,” he said.
United will want to provide Scholes with more reasons to be optimistic as they face Newcastle at St James’ Park today. Although Ruben Amorim‘s team sit in 13th place, they’re on the hunt for a win before they head into the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final bout with Lyon on Thursday.
