Rio Ferdinand's doping case looks set to claim its first high-profile victim even before his two-day hearing begins at Bolton's Reebok Stadium today with Michele Verroken, the woman who oversaw the test missed by the £30m Manchester United and England defender, being forced to resign from UK Sport.
Verroken, UK Sport's head of ethics and anti-doping, looks certain to pay the price for Ferdinand's name becoming public, which has so angered the Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor that he has threatened to pull his members out of all tests with UK Sport.
Verroken was told at a meeting on Tuesday with Sue Campbell, the interim chair of UK Sport, that she has no future in her role with the agency that oversees the development of elite athletes and drug testing in British sport.
She is now on paid leave at home and John Scott, the director of international relations and major events, has filled her role temporarily.
**** Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, expressed his regret. "She's been the face of British anti-doping for a number of years," he said. "One thing she's always argued for is, if you have a doping agency, it has been independent. Otherwise there are obvious dangers."
It was Verroken to whom the drug testers reported Ferdinand's failure to turn up for the test at Manchester United's training ground at Carrington on September 23.
Taylor blamed Verroken for Ferdinand's name being released to the media and claimed it would prejudice his chances of receiving a fair hearing when he appears before the Football Association, which can ban him for up to two years. But Taylor himself, sources at Manchester United and Ferdinand's agent Pini Zahavi all confirmed Ferdinand as the player who had broken drug regulations.
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