Rio Ferdinand has officially denied the charge of failing or refusing to take a drugs test and has requested a personal hearing when the Football Association (FA) begins a disciplinary case .

Apparently determined to make life as awkward as possible for the FA, United waited until the last few minutes of the two-week period of reply available to them before finally submitting their official response last night.

The FA, United and Ferdinand will now attempt to fix a mutually convenient date, with the ruling body hoping to find a slot next month.

It is feasible, however, that the matter will run into next year, the suspicion being that United are employing delaying tactics so that if Ferdinand is banned it comes at a time when Wes Brown is back from injury.

Ferdinand is currently being overlooked for England and his club-mate Phil Neville said yesterday he feared the centre-half could miss Euro 2004.

"He's one of the best central defenders in Europe," he said. "We need to go into the European Championships with our best players and one of our best players is Rio Ferdinand," said Neville.

Meanwhile, the Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis is to haul David O'Leary over the coals following reports linking him with a return to Leeds United.

Ellis is in Dubai where Villa played a friendly on Wednesday and is understood to be fuming after learning the manager he appointed just six months ago has been connected with yet another vacancy.

Leeds, who sacked O'Leary at the end of the 2001-2 season, is the third club O'Leary has been linked with since succeeding Graham Taylor in May. Tottenham Hostpur and Celtic, in the event of Martin O'Neill leaving, are the others.

With the supporters' pressure group Villa Fans Combined planning a demonstration against the 80-year-old before and during the next home game following the team's dismal start to the season, Ellis cannot afford another fall-out with a manager.

O'Leary is the ninth Ellis has hired in 21 years and, despite the brevity of the former Arsenal and Ireland defender's reign at Villa Park, it appears their relationship is already strained.

The 45-year-old O'Leary yesterday tried to defuse the situation. "I have a three-year deal at Aston Villa and I hope I'm here for a lot longer than that," he said. "If the board came to me tomorrow and asked me to sign a longer deal, I'd sign it.

"I have no plans to walk away just because the job is as challenging as I always knew it would be."

O'Leary also denied he was frustrated by the lack of money at Villa after being allowed to embark on a £90 million spending spree during his four years at Elland Road.

By contrast, he was given just £4 million to invest on new players in the summer and there is little likelihood of additional funds being made available during January's transfer window. "I knew there was only a small amount to spend when I came here and I was happy with that," he added. "David O'Leary is not a man to throw his dummy out of the pram over money."

O'Leary's apparent acceptance of the financial constraints is at odds with his comments last week when he said the club must invest if the team is to improve.

The speculation linking O'Leary with a return to Elland Road has led to his odds for the job being slashed to 4 to 1 with the bookmakers.