London, Feb. 6 : Rio Ferdinand, who is succeeding John Terry as England captain, has a far from a squeaky clean image craved by fans, as he has been involved in more than his fair share of football scandals.

Six years ago, the 31-year-old was banned from playing for eight months and fined 50,000 pounds after missing a drugs test at Manchester United’s training ground.

As a result, he missed the 2004 European Championship finals. The defender’s excuse was that he had forgotten and gone shopping instead, the Daily Express reports.

Ferdinand, known for his love of fast cars, was dropped from the England set-up in 1997 at the age of just 18 because of a drink-driving charge.

In 2005 he received his fourth driving ban after overtaking a police car at 105mph.

Two years ago, he provoked the wrath of United manager Sir Alex Ferguson for organising a drunken Christmas party.

The 400-pounds-a-head celebration at a leading Manchester hotel ended with his team-mate Jonny Evans being arrested, then cleared, of rape allegations.

During that rendezvous, dozens of women were specially brought in by bus for the evening and later complained they were “treated like pieces of meat”.

Ferdinand is currently serving a four-match ban after the FA found him guilty of elbowing Hull’s Craig Fagan. (ANI)