NO PLANNED RESPONSE FROM ENGLAND

Ferdinand - not fazed.

Rio Ferdinand insists England's players are not planning to walk off tomorrow if they suffer the same racist abuse endured on the last visit to Spain.

Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips were singled out for sustained abuse by the Spanish fans at the Bernabeu in Madrid four years ago.

It is one of the main reasons Wednesday's friendly will take place in Seville.

But there have also been suggestions a repeat of what happened in Madrid will result in similar action being taken to that of Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o, who walked off the pitch when he was subjected to the same treatment in Zaragoza during 2006.

"You don't plan stuff like that," said Ferdinand.

"It is not something we have discussed over lunch or at training.

"Samuel Eto'o walked off. That was his own reaction, his point of view.

"You have to be in that situation before you make a decision like that. You can't say, 'I'll do that if this happens'.

"If anything like that does occur, it will be dealt with after the game."

The 30-year-old's assessment suggests he is ready to let FIFA and UEFA deal with the fall-out from any unwanted reaction.

But, in the year Barack Obama moved into the White House, it seems wrong Ferdinand should still have to even talk about the issue.

"I don't want to get too holed up on the idea of racism and what happened in the past," said Ferdinand.

"A lot was said after the event four years ago and we would rather not dwell on it.

"We would hope football does the talking but in today's age, it is surprising that we're talking about things like that."

As one of the most articulate voices in the England camp, Ferdinand would have been the perfect platform from which the players could express their concerns.

Instead, the Manchester United defender claimed minds were purely focused on the not inconsiderable task of beating the Euro 2008 winners rather than what the Spanish fans might do.

"It doesn't really faze me," he said.

"As players, we are there to play football. Whatever the side-show is, it is in the back, not in the forefront, of our minds."