Simon Jordan has recalled his brutal response to Rio Ferdinand after being questioned by the Manchester United icon. Former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan is a talkSPORT pundit and has become known for his forthright opinions.
The topic of players or pundits approaching media personalities stems from recent admissions of similar incidents by Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher on The Overlap Fan Debate. In Scholes’ case, the United legend explained that one of the current squad asked to meet him at the training ground to discuss some of his comments but the player never followed up on his offer.
On the same subject, Gary Neville revealed on the Stick to Football podcast that he has spoken to several players to discuss his analysis. However, Jordan admitted to giving a damning assessment of Ferdinand’s punditry work after being approached by the former defender.
“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’.”
When asked how he felt about players’ response to feedback, Jordan added: “We live in a society where people are too fragile and not resilient enough. 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 ex-Palace chairman sympathises with players fighting against unfair narratives but believes he has never overstepped the mark during his media career. Meanwhile, Scholes argued there has been a generational shift in how Premier League stars handle criticism, referring to his interaction with one of the United squad.
“Players can be a little bit touchy these days,” Scholes said. “I had a [United] player, this year, who contacted me and wasn’t happy 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 believes part of his problem as a pundit is covering United games at a difficult time for the club. “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 hope to give Scholes something to cheer about as they take on Newcastle at St James’ Park on Sunday. Ruben Amorim’s side are 13th in the league but will be looking for a positive result ahead of the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie against Lyon on Thursday.
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