Plane Stupid! Rio's England farce continues as he flies 15 HOURS for TV gig despite injury ruling him out of action

Rio Ferdinand, who withdrew from England’s World Cup qualifiers to look after his chronic back problem, will fly to Qatar to work on a television broadcast of Friday’s game against San Marino.The Manchester United defender has agreed to be a pundit on Al Jazeera for the San Marino match, even though it will entail a 15-hour round trip to their headquarters in Doha. The travel schedule will hardly help a back problem so delicate that Ferdinand pulled out of Roy Hodgson’s squad so as not to jeopardise his treatment.

Baffling: Ferdinand, pictured last week, will fly to Qatar despite pulling out of the England squad

And, after all the fuss over his aborted international comeback, his decision is sure to enrage England fans as well as the FA.

Ferdinand's re-call was the most debated topic in the lead-up to Hodgson's announcement of the squad for the qualifiers, which also sees England take on Montenegro on Tuesday.After being left out of the Euro 2012 set-up for what Hodgson insisted were 'footballing reasons' in favour of John Terry, Ferdinand's form for United this season - and with Terry out of the international picture - prompted his return to the fold.

Confusion: Roy Hodgson was told Ferdinand could not play for England due to a chronic back problem

But after three days of speculation, including a warning to England over his training regime from club manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Ferdinand met with Hodgson on Sunday to say he would be pulling out of the squad.
His chronic back problem, requiring careful planning and a strict training regime, was cited as the reason for the decision.
Ferdinand then took to his Twitter account to say ex-sportsmen criticising his actions were 'talking rubbish', but he is sure to face a further backlash over his punditry gig.

Re-call: Ferdinand's form for United this season led many to call for a chance to add to his 81 caps

Ferdinand’s trip, with a flight three times as long as  England’s trip to Italy today, is all the more bizarre as Al Jazeera are also using pundits in their London studio.
But the 34-year-old is working on the Arabic broadcast, which requires him to be in Doha.

Ferdinand will not stay in the Gulf for England’s game against Montenegro on Tuesday and the short turnaround will result in his fragile back being subjected to almost 15 hours in an aircraft in the space of four days.The Ferdinand camp say he had one of his finely scheduled set of injections this week, meaning he would not have trained today or tomorrow, and he will have the sun on his back while he rests up in Doha.

Newcomer: England's injury crisis at centre back has led to a call-up for Newcastle defender Steven Taylor

Al Jazeera sports chief Duncan Walkinshaw said: ‘We’ve been talking with Rio about coming out to Qatar for over two years and finally  everything fitted into place. 'Big pundit names are very popular on the Arabic channels even if their comments have to be translated. ‘It’s up to United and Rio how he looks after his fitness. But the sports medicine facilities over here are second to none and United came here for hot weather training in January.’