Blatter blocks Ferdinand as United fume

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, has blocked Rio Ferdinand's path to civil action over his eight-month ban imposed for missing a drugs test.

The Manchester United defender is still considering his options after being hit by what he called the "thunderbolt" of the lengthy suspension imposed last Friday after his failure to take a drugs test at his club's Carrington training ground on 23 September.

Old Trafford officials are furious with the verdict and with Blatter's interventions in the three months between the missed test and the hearing.

Privately they accuse Blatter of jumping on a populist bandwagon by urging the FA to clamp down on a drugs problem he has previously claimed did not exist.

And now he has entered the debate again, insisting under the game's laws that Ferdinand cannot take his case to a civil court should he wish to pursue the matter beyond an initial appeal.

"According to the statutes of Fifa and its member associations, in this case, no recourse may be made to civil courts," Blatter said. "The highest court would be the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne."

Blatter denied threatening United with expulsion from the game if Ferdinand goes to the civil courts but the controversial Swiss is clearly on a collision course with the club.

He has clashed with United's chief executive, David Gill, over the Ferdinand issue and is embroiled in a separate battle with the club over their membership of the G14 group, which Blatter refuses to recognise.

Having rounded on the FA for the length of time it took to set up the hearing, Blatter "noted with satisfaction that this case has finally been dealt with and a decision passed". But he also hinted the threat of an increased penalty on Ferdinand had not yet been lifted.

"Fifa will not make any comment until it has received the decision, the reasons for the decision and the file on the case from the FA."

Blatter's comments only increase United's isolation on the Ferdinand issue. As it stands, the 25-year-old has 14 days to lodge an appeal for a hearing to be chaired by an independent QC but with two members of an FA council which United believe wants to make an example of their £29.3m record signing.

But no matter which way he turns, Ferdinand has support from his sponsors and the players' union and, if he wants legal advice, there are some highly qualified people who say the FA's handling of the whole affair does not stand up to scrutiny.

"If it had been a criminal case, it would have been thrown out because there was no way Rio was ever going to get a fair trial," said John Hewison, a senior partner with the Manchester-based sports law firm George Davies. "The FA might claim the commission is independent but the three men who sat on it were all from the FA. It's hard to see how all the publicity that went before the hearing couldn't have influenced them in some way.

"Mark Palios [the FA's chief executive] had already said he wanted tougher sanctions for drugs offenders and Sepp Blatter was leaning on the FA even more. It took three months from the offence being committed to the time the hearing took place, which gave everyone the opportunity to have their say. That did Rio no favours at all because it pushed the FA into a corner."

The punishment contrasts with a £2,000 fine for Manchester City's Christian Negouai for the same offence in February.

The Professional Footballers' Association chief executive, Gordon Taylor, has made his feelings on the matter known and Ferdinand has support from Nike. He is 12 months into a three-year sponsorship deal with the American sportswear firm which is believed to be making him around £270,000. Despite fears to the contrary, his problems will have no effect on the contract. "This must be a very difficult time for Rio," the Nike spokesman Simon Charlesworth said. "He has been banned for a long time but we feel the decision is very harsh. We are sticking by him and our thoughts are with him."