Fan fury as Jake Humphrey makes ill-advised joke after Man Utd hero Rio Ferdinand hints tragic wife’s death ended managerial career hopes

JAKE HUMPHREY has been slammed for his poorly thought-out joke at Rio Ferdinand's expense after the ex-Manchester United star alluded to the death of his wife stopping him from going into management.

Ferdinand, 40, had claimed he would have considered coaching if not for changes in his personal life only for the BT Sport presenter to make a comment about his cushy studio role.

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The former England star tragically lost his first wife Rebecca Ellison in 2015 to breast cancer, at the age of just 34.

Ellison's death left Ferdinand alone to raise the couple's three children, meaning a post-playing career was quickly put on hold.

And yesterday, speaking about his future, Ferdinand told the BT Sport panel: "In an ideal world I would have loved to have gone into coaching... and potentially a managerial role.

"But circumstances change for whatever reason in life and you've just got to make do with it."

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Jose Mourinho slammed by Rio Ferdinand for questioning young players’ maturity

By JOE MILES

RIO FERDINAND has hit back at Jose Mourinho after he publicly slated four of his players.

The Manchester United boss accused Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard of "lacking maturity" before the draw with Crystal Palace.

But Ferdinand hit back, saying: "When you get the comments where he's hammering four or five of the young players at the club, saying their mentality isn't right, what do you expect?

"Do you expect to have players on your side or do you expect your players to go 'hold on a minute, my manager is hammering me in public again'?

"I just don't think it's right for a football manager to be doing that.

"I don't think you're going to get productivity out of those kind of comments. I don't think it's proactive for the club.

"You don't get positivity doing that publicly and the fans don't like that either."

READ MORE ABOUT MAN UTD LEGEND RIO'S LATEST JOSE BLAST

Without a second's thought, Humphrey jumped back in, replying: "What you mean is you get well paid to sit in here and watch football... that's easier."

While it's fair to assume Humphrey did not realise Ferdinand — who is now engaged to ex-Towie star Kate Wright — was referring to his late wife, that didn't stop an outpouring of anger on Twitter including from SunSport columnist Ian Wright.

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It wasn't the only time Humphrey took a swipe at Ferdinand during the broadcast either.

Ferdinand was asked for his thoughts on Mauricio Pochettino after his Tottenham thumped Chelsea 3-1.

However, the ex-United ace went off on a rant about Maurizio Sarri - with Humphrey quick to jump on the blunder.

The presenter laughed as he said: "That was an excellent answer - even though my question was about Pochettino."

A visibly frustrated Rio hit back, adding: "Was it about Pochettino? Well say that next time."

Humphrey kept the awkward back-and-forth going by pointing at a picture of the Spurs boss behind him in the studio and saying: "What... make it clearer?"