Short of tearing off his shirt to reveal a Malcolm Glazer tattoo, it is hard to see what more Rio Ferdinand can do to lower his popularity among Manchester United’s more militant supporters. Perhaps it is just as well that, after being jeered in matches away to Clyde and Peterborough United in the past few days, he will depart with his teammates for Hong Kong, where the mere sight of a United player is likely to bring awe-struck locals to their knees.

The club’s millions of supporters in the Far East are far from ignorant, but Ferdinand is likely to find them more tolerant than those fans who, irked by his refusal to sign a new contract worth upwards of ?100,000 a week, are becoming increasingly vitriolic in their criticism of the ?30 million defender.

For that, he should be grateful, given that his list of offences is growing by the week, a run-in with Sir Alex Ferguson having followed Saturday’s friendly match against Clyde after he hitched a lift home without the permission of the manager, who expected him on the team coach.

Ferdinand’s relationship with Ferguson is becoming strained to the extent that he has been overlooked for the captaincy in Roy Keane’s absence, for both friendly matches so far, with Wayne Rooney leading out the team against Peterborough on Tuesday.

Ferguson has been clever in his discussions of the defender in public, taking every opportunity to urge him to sign a new contract without ever quite accusing him of avarice. Yet he was furious with Ferdinand for his latest indiscretion, with Old Trafford officials refusing to say whether he had been fined.

Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were also in the car that went back to Manchester from Scotland but, while Rooney had permission to travel separately and Ronaldo escaped with a stern rebuke, it is Ferdinand who bore the brunt of the manager’s anger.

As Ferguson has repeatedly said, Ferdinand could “end all the uncertainty” by signing a new contract, which does not sound too irksome bearing in mind his claim that he wants to stay at Old Trafford beyond the end of his contract in June 2007.

His agent, Pini Zahavi, however maintains that there is no need to do so and that the offer made to him in April, though it has never been formally rejected, will not be signed.

The situation is becoming difficult for United, faced with a diminishing asset, but David Gill, the chief executive, refused to panic on Wednesday, even urging supporters to empathise with the player.

“I know people would snap your hands off if they were offered that kind of money, but it has to be right,” Gill said. “You have to think about your worth. I respect him for that. It’s a crucial time in his career and he needs to be happy.”