Why Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard stopped speaking to each other
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Rio Ferdinand has explained why he stopped talking to Frank Lampard despite being close while they were at West Ham United together.
The pair, who now work together as pundits on BT Sport, were friends and teammates at West Ham, where they began their respective careers and progressed from the youth-team to the first-team together.
Ferdinand left for Leeds United in 2000 and then joined Manchester United in 2002, while Lampard signed for London rivals Chelsea in 2001.
Speaking on The NFL Show with Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, Ferdinand revealed how his relationship with Lampard was ended because of their rivalry at club level.
The pair, who now work together as pundits on BT Sport, were friends and teammates at West Ham, where they began their respective careers and progressed from the youth-team to the first-team together.
Ferdinand left for Leeds United in 2000 and then joined Manchester United in 2002, while Lampard signed for London rivals Chelsea in 2001.
Speaking on The NFL Show with Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell, Ferdinand revealed how his relationship with Lampard was ended because of their rivalry at club level.
I wrote a chapter in my book about Frank Lampard. We grew up together at West Ham, then we went our separate ways. I went to Man Utd and he went to Chelsea.Ferdinand and Lampard, alongside the likes of Steven Gerrard, John Terry, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and more, were dubbed as England's "Golden Generation" - yet they ultimately failed to live up to their potential at major tournaments.
We did everything together from 16 to 21, we roomed together, travelled together, did everything together. When I went to Man Utd and he went to Chelsea, we stopped talking. We never spoke about it, we just stopped talking.
I wrote this chapter at the end of my career, before it went out, out of courtesy. I sent it to Frank and asked him if it was okay to include. He text me back saying if he had written a chapter on me, it would have been word for word. Exactly the same.
We didn't hate each other but I didn't want to give him anything that he could take back to Chelsea. I just didn't like him anymore really because he was playing for Chelsea. He was getting his hands on a trophy that I wanted. It was an obsession with winning.
We grew apart and didn't speak. But now we speak. He was at my birthday the other day. What sport can do to a personal relationship is nuts. It's mad. All for the obsession of winning.
We had a generation that were nicknamed the golden generation of players where expectations were huge for us as a national team to go out and win something.
And that there is what held us back. Not being able to separate club ties to international football.
