Queens Park Rangers are considering whether to appeal against defender Rio Ferdinand’s ban and fine for a comment he made on Twitter, manager Harry Redknapp said on Thursday.
Ferdinand, 35, was suspended for three games and fined STG25,000 ($A45,000) by the Football Association on Wednesday for referring to the mother of another Twitter user as a ‘sket’, a derogatory slang term for a promiscuous woman.
“I’ll have to sit down with chief executive Philip Beard and chairman Tony Fernandes and talk about the possibility of an appeal when we have the report (from the FA),” Redknapp told a press conference.
“Rio does know how to behave off the pitch. There are not many professionals better than Rio. But I am not in position to talk about it, because I have not seen any details.”
Ferdinand, whose ban takes immediate effect, was also “severely warned” about his future conduct by the FA and ordered to attend an education program.
A Twitter user provoked the tweet that landed Ferdinand in hot water by sending him a teasing message on transfer deadline day that said: “Maybe QPR will sign a good CB (centre-back) they need one.”
Ferdinand replied: “get ya mum in, plays the field well son! #sket.”
The former Manchester United defender, who won 81 caps for England, is a member of a commission set up by FA chairman Greg Dyke to investigate how to improve English football.
Ferdinand, who said last week that he would probably retire from playing at the end of the season, has over 5.9 million followers on Twitter and is a prolific user of the social networking website.
Redknapp added: “I don’t know what Twitter is. I don’t want to know, to be honest. It doesn’t interest me one little bit. If I understood it, I might be able to talk about it.”
Olivia Watts
Roar Guru
I,'m sorry, but what is the fuss about. A fan made a smart aleck crack at Ferdinand and he answers with the British equivalent of the Americanism "yo Mama" or the old insult "your mother wears army boots". To fine him anything, let alone a sum like £45,000, is just political correctness gone feral. It wasn't an obscenity, it wasn't racist and as far as I can see hurts no one at all. Perhaps time to take a Sense of Humour Pill chaps? I'd better be careful in my house too. I often cook up a pot of what we call Sket, short for busketti worms - a joking reference to when my children were too young to pronounce 'spaghetti'. If the FA finds out we're having Sket tonight (and, actually, we are) they might fine me too!