Rio Ferdinand has had his say on the England fans’ controversial chants

Following the news that England have been reported to FIFA over chants about the Ferdinand brothers sung by their fans in San Marino last week, Rio Ferdinand has had his say on the matter.

The Manchester United defender was recalled to the England squad ahead of the double-header with San Marino and Montenegro after a lengthy absence but opted to withdraw from the squad because of his ‘pre-planned’ training regime he believed would have been affected by two away games in four days.

The decision was met with ridicule by a number of England fans who travelled to San Marino last Friday, particularly after Ferdinand appeared as a pundit on Qatari television, a round-trip that would have involved as many if not more hours on a plane as the England squad spent travelling to San Marino and Montenegro for World Cup qualifying matches.

A complaint has since been made to FIFA by Football Against Racism in Europe (Fare), who reported chants made by a section of England fans about putting Rio and brother Anton on a bonfire, although Fare admitted that it had no eye-witnesses at the game and that its allegation is based partially on media comments.

An investigation into the incidents will take place and the FA could face fines or more serious sanctions as a result, but Ferdinand himself had his own views on the incident this morning via his Twitter feed, which came after he had enlightened his followers about the omelette he was having for breakfast.

Whatever your views on Ferdinand, he's right about racist chants being unacceptable and hopefully, as he says, it turns out that it was only a small, idiotic minority responsible for the abuse aimed in his direction.