Ferdinand the playground star

Lovely jubbly: Young Rio was destined for great things

BBC Sport Online's Stuart Roach talks to Rio Ferdinand's primary school teacher about the player's early years.

In the short time it has taken Rio Ferdinand's world to turn upside down, from schoolboy to £18m-rated superstar, you could be forgiven for thinking success has gone to his head.

Yet those who knew the precocious talent of a six-year-old boy in Peckham, south London, will tell you a very different story.

Growing up in the back yard which was home to Del and Rodney Trotter, Ferdinand might not have sported the Afghan coat or driven the Reliant Robin.

But at least he could have claimed with some justification that "this time next year, I'll be a millionaire".

As Del would say, things right now are lovely jubbly for Rio.

His primary school teacher Joye Manyan, the original member of the Rio Ferdinand fan club, remains one of his biggest admirers.

Rio Ferdinand has remained focused

Manyan has followed Ferdinand's career from the moment she saw him kicking a tennis ball in the Camelot Primary School playground and insists there is no player better equipped than Ferdinand to handle the trappings of celebrity status.

Talented

"I knew he was going to be something, but it was not necessarily going to be a footballer," Manyan recalls.

"He was very good academically, as well as sport-wise. He was good at gymnastics and at football, but didn't let sport interfere with his studies and he left our school as a band one pupil."

Ferdinand the footballer has had to be patient both at club and international level.

A loan spell at Bournemouth preceded his promotion to the West Ham first team, and more than one England coach limited him to a bit-part role.

But then, Manyan always knew that patience was a Ferdinand virtue.

"As a schoolboy he was hard working. He planned his work very well and whatever he did he always did his best.

"But behind it all was someone who was very good at planning and articulating what he wanted to do."

And if future England captains are groomed from an early age, Ferdinand has all the attributes required, as Manyan explains.

"He was a very good team player and played very well with his fellow players.

He was a defender but was good in goal and a fantastic goalscorer too. A real all-rounder

  Rio's schoolteacher Joye Manyan

"The school football team won quite a few of the local cups, and he also played for the South London team.

"He was a defender but was good in goal and a fantastic goalscorer too. A real all-rounder," she remembers.

Fifteen years on, Ferdinand is being described as the future of English football, yet he remains the present and past of Camelot Primary School.

With feet planted firmly on the ground, Ferdinand still visits his old school to talk to pupils and staff and sign autographs, ensuring the memory of the talented six-year-old stays fresh with Joye Manyan and her colleagues.

"I just remember a very nice lad. The last time I saw him, he still said "hello miss" and I feel a sense of pride that one of my youngsters has achieved such a great deal."

Manyan recalls an occasion when Ferdinand found time to return to Peckham and wish good luck to a local shop keeper who was leaving the area.

The queue is already forming to wave goodbye to the school's most famous pupil if he completes a move to Yorkshire.