I WAS heartened to see Manchester United fans jeering Rio Ferdinand.

I was heartened to see them tear into a player who they believe is holding the club to ransom.

And I was heartened to see that fan power is still alive and kicking in a money-orientated game dominated more and more by agents and footballers.

A travelling army of 8,000 United fans were at the friendly at Peterborough on Tuesday, the majority booing every time Ferdinand touched the ball.

Chants of "Chelsea rent boy" and "Sign your deal, you greedy ****" also filled the air.

They are angry that the defender is refusing to sign a lucrative new contract, and is holding out for a reputed £120,000 a week in wages.

And I'm with them all the way. It's about time the fans - the life-blood of any club - had their say.

And it's about time players sat up and listened.

Shaun Wright-Phillips' £21m move to Chelsea this week hightlighted just how polarised the game has become.

Manchester City fans were helpless as their best player headed for Roman Abramovich's cheque book.

Southampton fans were equally powerless as striker Peter Crouch signed for Liverpool for an inflated £7m.

All the power seems to be with the players and their agents.

But the Ferdinand backlash is an indication that players will not always get their own way.

Ferdinand can't go on being jeered by his own fans. He will either have to sign the deal on the table or ship out of Old Trafford.

Either way, the fans will have won a moral victory, although a costly one if they lose one of the Premiership's best defenders.

I was working on the Liverpool Echo sports desk a couple of years ago when Liverpool were on the brink of signing Lee Bowyer.

Within hours of breaking the story, the paper was deluged with letters from angry fans threatening to boycott games if the Reds signed this "despicable" individual.

The paper printed two pages of letters every night for four nights, reflecting the mood of the fans.

At the end of the week, manager Gerard Houllier pulled the plug on the deal.

It was a victory for the fans.

Birmingham City fans started a similar campaign this summer when Bowyer was linked to their club. The transfer never happened.

In a game drowning in money, it shows the man in the street does still have a say - and players had better not forget it.