Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has dismissed criticism of his decision to fly to Qatar to work as a television pundit.
The 34-year-old withdrew from Roy Hodgson s squad for the World Cup qualifying double header against San Marino and Montenegro, citing his need to follow an intricate pre-planned programme to stay fit.
The Peckham-born centre-back was widely criticised when it emerged that he would travel to the Middle East during the international break to comment on Friday s clash against San Marino on television.
But Ferdinand has defended his actions on Twitter, writing: I ve flown out for some pre-planned downtime with a bit of punditry thrown in for a game I would have watched anyway.
Haters are gonna hate also assume everything although it must be the gospel truth based on assumptions.
No different from what I did in the last 10 day international break thank you guys.
Ferdinand won the last of his 81 England caps during a Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland back in 2011.
