Rio really needs to make a decision on that one way or another because we are going into a final and it is

Rio really needs to make a decision on that one way or another because we are going into a final and it is important to get that matter resolved We need a decision now for the supporters. We have 35,000 going to Cardiff who want to know that Rio is committed to the club I don’t know [if it has affected his form]. He’s that phlegmatic and laid back I don’t think anything would affect him.”While Ferguson’s support for Ferdinand during his nine-month ban for missing a drugs test last season was unconditional, he will find that support rather less easy to provide if the player is prepared to raise the stakes over wages.Ferdinand’s agent is Pini Zahavi who, despite his friendship with Ferguson, has found his influence at Old Trafford reduced since Kenyon left for Chelsea.Ferdinand last night restated his claim that he wanted to stay.”I want to stay at Manchester United and I have said that from the beginning,” he said.Ferguson, who predicted that Chelsea would not seal the title against Bolton today, said that he believed Gabriel Heinze would recover in time to face Arsenal in the FA Cup final on 21 May. He has only two seasons left on his existing deal before he could leave Old Trafford for free.Ferguson has not indicated he is worried that Ferdinand might leave, but he did say yesterday that the improved contract was a “great offer”, adding: “I wish I was offered it.”"They say his agent is out of the country and that seems to be the stumbling block at the moment. The deal, understood to be around £100,000 a week, would make him the best-paid player in the club’s history and there is growing frustration at his unwillingness to commit. Ferguson said that the player owed a debt of “loyalty”.”We have shown great faith in these players when we sign them and we have shown great faith and loyalty in Rio and we would like some of that returned,” Ferguson said.Chelsea’s chief executive Peter Kenyon last week said that he had given personal guarantees to his former club that Chelsea had no intention of signing Ferdinand, but there is still serious cause for disquiet at United. Sir Alex Ferguson yesterday increased the pressure on Rio Ferdinand to sign his new contract in time for the FA Cup final against Arsenal and told his £30m defender that Manchester United’s supporters will want to know he is committed to the club.

If Chelsea no longer want him then maybe it will challenge him to win trophies here.”For today’s Middlesbrough game, Benitez could bring Dietmar Hamann back into the midfield as Igor Biscan is injured and Gerrard might be rested for Tuesday’s match. Harry Kewell is also another possible starter for Liverpool who have won just two of the League games that have followed their 12 European matches this season.. “We want to prepare a good team for the future with Steven and if he stays we will be stronger,” he said.”If I talked to him every time there was a story about him in the newspapers then I would be speaking with him more often than I speak to my wife. The player is known to be disillusioned with the club under Wanderley Luxemburgo and is waiting for the summer to see whether the Brazilian coach is replaced.Benitez was cautious in his consideration of reports that Steven Gerrard is no longer of interest to Chelsea and said that it had never been his intention to let the player leave without a battle. Football, football, football.”For a loyal Madrileno, Hierro is surprisingly complimentary about Mourinho.

He came close to working with him at Barcelona who tried to sign Hierro before Real intervened in 1989. On the subject of Chelsea and Mourinho’s appetite for conflict this season, Hierro is clear. “Great clubs make history by winning titles – I don’t know about all the ins and outs of that [Chelsea's behaviour] but in football you make your name by winning trophies.”When Hierro arrived at Real Madrid, they had six European Cups but it had been 23 years since their last one and he had to wait another nine years, until 1998, to get the next. With 13 domestic Spanish trophies and the three European Cups, he was part of a team that Madrid will find difficult to forget. As a template for Mourinho’s Chelsea side there is none better.”It is all about taking that final step when you get to the last stage, to grab the opportunity and take it,” Hierro says. “That’s what happened with Real Madrid, it was 32 years without a European Cup so once you do get to the semi-final stage you have to make sure you don’t miss that opportunity Chelsea have been in this position before They had that opportunity and the experience of missing out. It will be a positive experience for them that they can use.”We missed out on a couple of occasions and you use that experience It’s all about trophies History is made by winning trophies.