Rio Ferdinand claims he joined Leeds because he had to get away from London’s bright lights.
Ferdinand moved to Elland Road from West Ham for a British record transfer fee of £18million in 2000 and says he left his home city because he was partying too much.
The former England star had just turned 22 and admits he was hitting the nightclubs every weekend with his mates when he should have been focusing on his career.
“I left West Ham and went to Leeds for a big fee, a British record,” said Ferdinand.
“I could’ve gone to Chelsea. I got a phone call just as I was going to Leeds. I just said to the geezers, ‘there’s no point even trying to pitch the idea to me. I need to leave London.
“I’ve got all my mates, I go out every weekend. I can go anywhere in town, I’m living a distraction’.
“Going to Leeds was getting me away from my mates, who were good boys, but we were getting in trouble and going out too much.
“I didn’t have a handbrake, everything was full throttle.
“The best decision was looking at myself and moving to Leeds when I did. Best thing I did.”
Ferdinand realised he had to move when then England boss Kevin Keegan left him out of his squad for Euro 2000 and he could see his career was going off course because of his partying.
“Yeah, it was around that time,” he said. “The summer before that I got dropped from the England team for Euro 2000.
“The manager Kevin Keegan didn’t take me. I was devastated, but it was probably one of the best things to happen to me.
“I was p****d off with him, I’ve got to be honest. But then I looked at myself after that initial anger with him I thought, ‘you know what, it’s down to me isn’t it?. I’m going out all the time’.
“That summer I went on holiday, I got back and I trained before we even went back to pre-season.
“I was running in the park the whole time for about 10 days before we went back in. I went back in, hit the ground running and then that November I went to Leeds.”
Ferdinand, 42, was speaking to Eddie Hearn on his BBC podcast ‘No Passion, No Point’ and he used to bump into Anthony Joshua’s promoter at the Emporium night club in London with Frank Lampard.
Ferdinand, who joined Manchester United from Leeds for another British record £30million in 2002, admits he and Lampard were clubbing too much at West Ham.
“Every night out was just the best thing,” he said. “Me and Frank used to roam together.
“At first we would say, ‘right, get the game out the way, then we’re going to get in the car and boot it up to Nottingham, Manchester or the Emporium in London’.
“But in the end, we had to make a pact, ‘let’s not talk about the nightclub until after the game’.”
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