“Why I Previously Disliked Arsenal Legend Ian Wright,” Reveals Rio Ferdinand

Rio Ferdinand has revealed Ian Wright’s wind-up tactics when they faced each other had him hating the Arsenal legend.

The 44-year-old has conceded he idolised the Gunners hero growing up, with both men raised in south London.

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United icon Ferdinand came up through the ranks at West Ham, who he represented between 1995-2000.

He would later play alongside Wright at Upton Park in the 1998/99 season – after they had squashed their beef with Ferdinand taking exception to his methods.

Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, the six-time Premier League winner declared that he dreaded his battles with the 59-year-old.

Recalling one particular encounter, he said: “We had a corner and I was staying back on the halfway line marking Wrighty and as they were setting up he was just looking at me.

“And I’m looking over him because he’s only small, and he was looking at me trying to be a wind-up all screw-facing me.

“And then he pushed me in my head and I pushed his hands away and said,‘ what are you doing?’ and he was just laughing, and I thought, ‘I hate this guy’.”

He added: “I finished the game and I remember I went back to my mates on the estate and saying ‘I can’t stand Wrighty, he ain’t what we thought he was man, the way he treated me like that’.

“It wasn’t until a year or so later when I met him again with England, where he said ‘Nah man, that’s the game, that’s what we do! I’ve got to get under your skin’.

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“And I was like ‘I see, I’ve got it now’. He was just a different guy.”

Wright has previously spoken of Ferdinand’s hatred of him in an interview with Off The Ball as he commented on the art of sledging.

He remarked: “I used to constantly try and talk to defenders. I tried to put them off their game to get any kind of edge.

“I used to love it because I come from Sunday morning football and that’s all we did,” he recalls. “We would just try to wind people up.”

The former Celtic forward continued: “Someone like Rio Ferdinand then, he was vexed with me because when he was younger he really liked me.

“So, the first thing I did was slaughter him about the way he looked and played. He used to hate me.”