Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was banned for eight months by an independent disciplinary commission on Friday for missing a drugs test.

The England international had been charged by the Football Association (FA) with a "failure or refusal" to take the test at United's training ground at Carrington on September 23.

Ferdinand is set to miss the rest of the domestic season and next year's European Championship, though Manchester United immediately announced they would appeal.

Following a two-day hearing, a commission spokesman read out a statement saying: "The disciplinary commission unanimously found that the charge was proved against Rio Ferdinand.

"It was further decided he would be suspended for a period of eight months with effect from Monday January 12, 2004 and be fined the sum of 50,000 pounds ($88,310)."

United, the English champions, were angered by the verdict.

"We are extremely disappointed by the result in this case and, in particular, by the savage and unprecedented sentence which makes an appeal inevitable," United director Maurice Watkins said in a club statement.

"I can confirm that Rio has the full support of Manchester United and the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association)."

Ferdinand, who stood next to Watkins and who has denied using drugs, made no comment, while the FA gave a short statement.

"Clearly the Commission regarded not taking a drugs test as a very serious matter and took their decision accordingly," it said.

Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, was incensed.

"I don't believe justice has been done," he told Sky Sports. "They have hung him out to dry and made him a scapegoat."

He stressed Ferdinand had never been linked to drugs, adding: "Eight games is a lot for a player, eight weeks is even horrific, eight months I find quite astonishing."

But Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said that Ferdinand had been dealt with leniently.

"It (the ban) was only one third of the theoretical maximum, so I should have thought he's done pretty well if you at it from his perspective," Pound told Sky Sports.

DOPING TEST

Ferdinand, 25, passed a doping test 36 hours after he should have taken the original one.

The FA ruled him out of England's final Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey on October 11 after his missed test, but allowed him to keep playing for United, a decision criticised by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The world's most expensive defender, Ferdinand became a "cause celebre" in domestic and international football, while the FA was widely criticised for its handling of the affair.

Ferdinand's exclusion from the decisive game in Istanbul prompted threats of an unprecedented strike by his England team mates.

They eventually backed down, but strongly criticised the FA's behaviour saying that both Ferdinand and the England squad had been "badly let down." England drew the match 0-0 to qualify for the European Championship.

Ferdinand could also miss the start of England's qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup.

The ban is one month less than that handed to former Manchester United player Eric Cantona for attacking a supporter in the crowd at a premier league match in 1995 and the suspension given to former Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich for failing a drugs test.

Much of the British media had anticipated a three-month ban. The maximum possible sanction was two years.

United manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday that Ferdinand was likely to play in the premier league match at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

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