Ferdinand, a £30m (€42.3m) buy from Leeds 15 months ago, claimed he was in the process of moving house and forgot to attend a drugs test at United’s Carrington training ground.

He took the test two days later and it was negative, but the Football Association withdrew him from Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England squad to face Turkey in yesterday’s key Euro 2004 qualifier.

England’s players, led by Professional Footballers’ Association representative Neville, were not happy with the way Ferdinand had been treated and threatened to strike but a truce was reached in time for England to secure the point needed to guarantee their place at next summer’s championship finals in Portugal.

“Rio made a mistake in not having his test when he should, but it was an innocent error. He just forgot,” Ferguson told Daily Star Sunday.

“You have to admire my players for the way they have stuck together over this. It reflects the tremendous team spirit we have at the club.

“Gary (Neville) has been criticised for what he has done in the England camp in the last week. But he was only performing his role as the PFA representative. It’s ludicrous to suggest that he is militant – or anything like that.”

Ferguson believes England’s players were caught in a no-win situation, but did not take their strike threat seriously.

“Maybe the England players would have been criticised just as much if they had done nothing and merely left Rio hanging out to dry.

“I don’t believe for one moment they would have withdrawn from the game. They recognised what they believed was an injustice and tried to do something about it.”