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England 'boycott' in Ferdinand row
LONDON, England -- The entire England squad threatened to boycott their Euro 2004 qualifying match against Turkey on Saturday unless Rio Ferdinand is re-instated, the Times reported. The players came to their decision at a late night meeting after failing to persuade Football Association chief executive Mark Palios to reverse their decision, the report claimed. Ferdinand was dropped after his failure to attend a routine drugs test last month with his club Manchester United. The England squad trained as normal on Wednesday, but embarassed FA officials were forced to postpone a lunchtime press conference with some of the players as further discussions were held with the team. FA officials privately voiced confidence that the players would not go through with the boycott threat but Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballer's Association, warned them not to under-estimate the depth of the players' anger. "The players don't want to walk out on England, they want to play for their country," the players' union boss said. "They have made their views known and hope there is a positive reaction. I just feel it is becoming really difficult. It has been badly handled and there could be a stand-off." On Tuesday, the FA put out a statement denying the players were threatening to strike. "David Beckham would like to make it clear that at no time did any players threaten to leave the squad," it said. But the statement is reported to have been released before a later meeting of the entire 24-man squad where a vote to boycott was taken. "I know some of the players are very unhappy with the situation," Ferdinand's agent Pini Zahavi told the Sun. The Times said that four Manchester United players -- Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers, Gary and Phil -- plus Beckham, Michael Owen, Sol Campbell and David James had met Palios. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has admitted the FA did not consult him about the decision to drop Ferdinand, who later said he was "devastated" by the decision and had never taken drugs. Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor said that Manchester United were extremely upset and as an indication of this, they are considering withdrawing their plauyers from the squad." Manchester United also put out a statement condemning the FA decision. "As of today, Rio has still not been charged with an offence, and precedent suggests that he should continue to be available to represent England until at least a disciplinary finding has been made against him by the FA," United spokesman Paddy Harverson said. Manchester United chief executive David Gill added: "We think the FAs decision not to select Rio for England is wrong for the player and wrong for the country. As a consequence, we will be vigorously pursuing our concerns about the matter in due course." England need a point in Istanbul to qualify for next year's European Championship finals in Portugal. If the players go ahead with the reported boycott threat it would mean England forfeit the match and would have to go into the play-offs. It could also lead to sanctions from football's European governing body UEFA.
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