Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were involved in an ugly Twitter spat on Thursday night after the latter took offence to his ex-international team-mate’s assessment of his standing in the all-time Premier League rankings. The war of words stemmed from a recent interview between Ferdinand and Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk in which the pair reflected on the greatest centre-backs to have ever played in England’s top flight.
Terry was ultimately named fifth on Ferdinand’s all-time list behind himself, Van Dijk, Nemanja Vidic and Jaap Stam, which prompted the former Chelsea skipper to dig out a number of statistics in order to prove why he should have been placed higher. Ferdinand was not overly impressed with Terry’s antics, though, and made his feelings known by hitting out with a firmly-worded tweet that was directed at his former England colleague.
“The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it’s really time to start addressing the fragile ego,” said Ferdinand.
The former United man went on to suggest that Terry was fortunate to have even been acknowledged after being accused of using racist language in an on-pitch exchange with his brother, Anton, back in 2011.
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“You’re lucky I even put you in the top five after the racism case with my brother so be thankful you made it,” he added.
Terry was eventually found not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand after a five-day trial in 2012 but was stripped of the England captaincy in the wake of the scandal. The 41-year-old went on to announce his retirement from international football on the eve of the FA’s subsequent hearing, at the end of which he was given a four-match ban and slapped with a fine of £200,000.
He was in no mood to lie down in spite of Ferdinand’s criticism and quickly fired back with a tweet of his own in which he accused the 43-year-old of hiding his own insecurities by naming himself at the very top of his list as the greatest Premier League centre-back in history.
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“A fragile ego is putting yourself at number one. Thanks for putting me in your top five,” replied Terry, who added a sarcastic thumbs-up emoji to hammer home his point.
It seems as though Terry’s relationship with Ferdinand was soured by the prior accusations of racist abuse that dominated the headlines back in 2011. The Chelsea legend has previously revealed that he tried to speak to both Rio and Anton with the intention of burying the hatchet but was denied the opportunity to do so in spite of his best efforts.
“It’s disappointing to read and hear that I’ve never reached out,” Terry told The Times when quizzed on the reaction to the scandal last year. “I tried to phone Rio and Anton on numerous occasions, literally the same night [as the game], the day after, and that week after the incident.
“Then about three, four years ago, I see Rio on the beach in Dubai, so I approached him and said: ‘Have you got five minutes? I’d like to talk to you’. He was like: ‘I don’t want to talk to you, JT.'”
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