It is November 2000.
Ken Livingstone has develop into the primary elected Mayor of London, Big Brother has aired in the UK for the primary time, and the final recreation performed on the outdated Wembley Stadium has simply led to Kevin Keegan’s resignation as England supervisor.
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Westlife are dominating the charts however can be overwhelmed to Christmas primary by Bob the Builder, Madonna is quickly to marry Guy Ritchie, and Leeds United are spending massive.
On 25 November 2000, they broke the British switch record by signing Rio Ferdinand from West Ham for £18m.
The then 22-12 months-outdated turned the world’s most costly defender and took Leeds’ spending in two years beneath David O’Leary to £64.3m.
In his first season at Elland Road, Ferdinand was a part of a facet that completed fourth – then the Uefa Cup qualification place – in the Premiership and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
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Despite a tough debut in a 3-1 defeat by Leicester, the England worldwide’s high quality quickly shone by means of and, by the tip of the marketing campaign, his affect was such that he was often captaining the group in the absence of Lucas Radebe.
There had been additionally massive targets. Ferdinand scored in the Champions League quarter-ultimate first-leg win over Deportivo La Coruna, in a giant 2-1 league win over Liverpool at Anfield in April 2001, and on his return to Upton Park in a 2-0 victory per week later.
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He was given the captain’s armband completely by O’Leary earlier than the 2001-02 season and carried out admirably as soon as once more as Leeds reached the Uefa Cup final 16 however completed fifth in the league and failed to interrupt again into the Champions League.
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However, Ferdinand’s spell at Elland Road was as brief because it was candy, with the failure to qualify once more for the Champions League lastly bringing to the fore the membership’s perilous monetary state of affairs.
In March 2002, Leeds introduced pre-tax losses of £13.8m for the ultimate six months of the earlier 12 months, with the failed £100m gamble on gamers in a bid for European success starting to make the accountants nervous.
By July, Ferdinand had left to affix fierce rivals Manchester United for £30m – once more breaking the British switch record and once more turning into the world’s most costly defender.
After he was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2023, Ferdinand said he “played some of my best football” at Leeds and revealed he’s nonetheless in a WhatsApp group with the likes of notable former Whites stars Mark Viduka and Lee Bowyer.
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While his move to the Red Devils continues to be a sensitive topic for some, Ferdinand told a BBC podcast in 2023 that realizing there are those that are nonetheless indignant “wrecks my head”.
“I understand the rivalry, but sometimes you’ve got to understand the situation and the context,” he added.
“Unfortunately the club was run a particular way that they had to sell all of the assets. They had to sell me. I had to go. So it didn’t matter where I was going.”