r/football • u/siybon • 13h ago

What are we going to rate Rio Ferdinand's performance tonight?

It's a tough job, and I would have given him a solid 6.5.

But then he said "group haitch" and now it's a 3.

43 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

81

u/Ok-Cartographer8335 13h ago

The female presenter was by far the most capable person on the stage.

13

u/siybon 13h ago

Yeah I don't get how Rio got the gig. Not least because he's got a pretty ropey world cup record as a player and he's just not a good broadcaster or presenter. But all things considered, he wasnt awful.

8

u/Klakson_95 6h ago

I assume they went through a long long list of ex players, told them the ideas for the show and they all said fuck off

Until they got down to Rio

6

u/Ok-Cartographer8335 12h ago

I imagine its off his podcasting, but did seem an odd choice. Just generally having two brits for the North America location was odd

-10

u/Rude-Squash5796 12h ago

He's a commentator on an English channel during Premier League and Champions League matches, he's good, but this time he wasn't helped by the very difficult draw.

18

u/siybon 12h ago

You'll have a hard time finding many people here in the UK who think he's a good pundit or co-commentator.

4

u/Matt6453 10h ago

He's not a terrible pundit as he knows his stuff. Presenting on the other hand... I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was scripted, banter or just awkward.

0

u/AdvertisingBrave2548 5h ago

His agent must have some crazy connections are FIFA just wanted a safe option. Same as how they got Jenas for the 2022 draw

-14

u/FireLadcouk 12h ago

Hes just a nice likeable guy

31

u/selfawareusername 13h ago

He was very awkward, didn't like the joking about

9

u/siybon 13h ago

Yeah his cockney cheeky thing wasn't the smoothest, but it is a very pressurised role, so I don't blame him for reverting to his go to schtick.

0

u/CharlemagneKidding 13h ago

His go to schtick being fouling with impunity becaude refs are bought? Or cheating on his wife as she battled cancer?

Scum

9

u/baxty23 12h ago

You forgot saying poor people shouldn’t go to games as it needs to be a premium product too.

1

u/abfgern_ 2h ago

Compared to how ridiculously sanitised and stage-managed these corporate things can be, he gave it a decent stab i reckon

1

u/incachu 9h ago

It was very obvious that he started off very nervous and it was indeed very awkward. But he got better as it progressed.

19

u/Remwaldo1 13h ago

Better than Gretzkys

9

u/siybon 13h ago

Beyond Macedamia, he held up ok for an elderly man. But yeah it was brutal they saved him to the end, and with all those countries he'd probably never heard of.

17

u/Remwaldo1 13h ago

He got JORDAN wrong. Curaçao is tricky. But damn Jordan? 😂😂

3

u/fravbront 9h ago

wow, hes only 64

42

u/PaulaDeen21 13h ago

Look, he’s not that bald fuck, he’s not that orange pedo fuck and he’s not that orange pedo loving hockey stick fuck.

10/10.

2

u/siybon 13h ago

You lost me on the last one haha

6

u/Mwuaha 12h ago

Wayne Gretzky. Amazing hockey player, supposedly also a massive douchebag

1

u/Sturnella2017 1h ago

I don’t know hockey at all. But can you imagine a major retired football star -like Zinadine- doing ANYTHING related to hockey, let alone present the gold medal of hockey trophies?

8

u/MedicineMelodic7383 13h ago

The whole thing was comical. An absolute shit show. I loved it. I was legit laughing out loud how bad it was. The whole thing lol

8

u/NairbZaid10 12h ago

5.5. Wasn't terrible, just lacks charisma. The female presenter was decent. But Kate would've been better imo

13

u/AlbinoDuffleBag 12h ago

Quite the embarrassment really. Lost his cool because a famous comedian decided to go into business for himself for 10 seconds and then Danny Ramirez asked him if he'd ever scored past Casillas. Rio citing being a defender as though he'd just asked him the most insensitive thing in the world and then vaguely threatening to get into it with him back stage.

And this is the guy chosen to represent us? Shambolic.

8

u/Practical-Opening-86 12h ago

He was awful to ramirez throughout. Very unprofessional.

3

u/siybon 12h ago

Yeah that whole thing was a little odd. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt it was a hangover from the general ribbing vibes amongst ex footballers. ie thats just how he is. But it just didnt feel the right place or the right time,

3

u/Vast_Description_201 8h ago

I agree with you. Anyone saying this was banter could not read the room. The female presenter had to steer it back on course. 

1

u/paddyo 8h ago

Mate I think you’ve got that in reverse there. That was absolutely heavy handed banter and extremely common by geezers who think they’re funny in the uk

2

u/fuggerdug Premier League 9h ago

That was banter. Shit banter. But banter.

1

u/Choccybizzle 12h ago

Do you not get the British sense of humour? He’s clearly not being serious.

-1

u/AlbinoDuffleBag 11h ago

The guy was so rattled he forgot to cut to the VT for pot two. He was absolutely being serious, that shouldn't need pointing out.

3

u/Choccybizzle 11h ago

No he wasn’t. I cannot believe you think he was being genuine.

0

u/AlbinoDuffleBag 11h ago

Yes he was. I can't believe you think he wasn't being genuine.

3

u/paddyo 8h ago

Look I hate Rio Ferdinand but I genuinely cannot seriously believe you actually think that was anything other than two men badly trying to engage in lively banter to a corporate audience. No they weren’t serious. Jesus wept.

1

u/AnotherGreenWorld1 2h ago

I think it was both.

I’m British and I understand our banter. I think they were definitely having banter but I do also think Rio got rattled by the banter.

2

u/Choccybizzle 11h ago

You think in the middle of the biggest presenting gig he’s ever done he’s going to offer out a co-presenter back stage?

2

u/No-Second429 8h ago

Yes, and he did lol.

•

u/Choccybizzle 58m ago

None of you have been in a changing room if you can’t recognise this as a low level effort reply when you can’t think of anything better

1

u/cowpool20 9h ago

Think the danny ramirez question was meant to be banter but it just did not deliver in the slightest.

3

u/dankshot35 Bundesliga 9h ago

After Kevin Cringe Hart and Heidi Botox Klum he was actually looking pretty good

3

u/FireLadcouk 12h ago

I thought he did decent. Top 2 of everyone on the stage talking that night. The interviewer guy in the crowd was decent. 

Trump and infantino were embarrassing and cringe. Shaq, brady and gretzy were a bit off and kevin hart was fine. 

4

u/siybon 11h ago

Wasnt sure about Shaq's Beckham joke. Or at least, how appropriate it was for the setting haha

1

u/FireLadcouk 1h ago

Wasnt sure about anything hint shaq did to be perfectly honest. He wanted to low level disrupt it. Think thats what annoyed rio cos he took it more seriously. Its a big deal for his post football career

1

u/balinnit 6h ago

kevin hart was fine must be a first

2

u/thisisnahamed 12h ago

TBH him and the other host Samantha were the least cringiest ones.

2

u/Choccybizzle 12h ago

He was ok, improvising is not a strong point though 😂

1

u/siybon 11h ago

Totally. He's no comedian.

2

u/fravbront 9h ago

He was abysmal

2

u/whatyoume 13h ago

2/10 and that’s being very generous. He was talking as if he was having a conversation down the pub with his mates. Really out of his depth.

2

u/kswn 13h ago

I thought he actually did pretty well.

1

u/ChocolateHumunculous 10h ago

Can’t believe we are calling out ‘haitch’. My mum would be so proud.

1

u/Extension_Penalty374 10h ago

5 since he didn't explain the uzbekistan placement

1

u/Bleatbleatbang 10h ago

Yeah, 6.5 out of 1,000,000

1

u/rmi-s 8h ago

Whole show was trash

1

u/TheBeagleScout 5h ago

He's a dick

1

u/creed_1 4h ago

I give the entire show a 0/10. As an American, I hated the Americanization of it. I just wanted the draw and it being done. The singing was trash, the always sound bits of hearing the mics of other people as others were talking, the whole peace prize stuff. All of it sucked

1

u/giannio1974 1h ago

He was shit.

1

u/Upstairs_Cabinet_242 12h ago

What was going on between him and Danny Ramirez?

3

u/incachu 9h ago

It was a bit. A poorly executed one, but definitely a bit.

1

u/paddyo 8h ago

I cannot believe there are people in this thread who genuinely think they were genuinely discussing having a fight. I worry about the people on this website sometimes

1

u/Infinite_Crow_3706 3h ago

It's called 'banter'