Despite Rio “in again, out again” Ferdinand pulling himself out of the England squad for the two key World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro due to fitness concerns, the Manchester United defender has decided to take a lucrative TV deal to commentate tomorrow’s England match. Problem is that the TV studio is in Qatar, which means he’ll be taking a 15-hour round trip flight even though he has a back problem.

This is yet another silly decision by Ferdinand in a long history of inane moves. The backlash against Ferdinand has already been felt today in the media and social media. It’s a hypocritical decision by Ferdinand to say that he can’t adapt to England’s fitness and medical program, but then decides to take a TV gig in the land of luxury.

Ferdinand has already jumped on Twitter to defend himself saying that he already had some pre-planned downtime, and that it’s no different than what he did on his last international break. The big difference here is that on the last international break, he wasn’t called up for England. This time he was until he (or Ferguson) decided to pull him out.

The timing couldn’t be worse for Ferdinand. Perhaps this is the last straw for his England international career? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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