English FA Premiership/ Charlton Athletic 0 Manchester United 4: Rio Ferdinand must have enjoyed yesterday a little less than his team-mates.

As Manchester United cruised past a wretched Charlton side to retain their slim hopes of second place and build up nicely for a more testing FA Cup final, the defender was reminded he has other issues to think about. Anger among some United fans at his failure to sign his new contract came vividly to the fore.

A minority of the visiting supporters booed Ferdinand when he was on the ball in the opening half-hour and choruses of "Rio, sign your deal" were audible in both halves. In the closing minutes there was even a more profane, if fainter, message for him.

Ferdinand was applauded at the end by most of United's followers, who chanted his name as he acknowledged them, but an earlier chorus of "Chelsea rent boy" was an unflattering reference by some to the England player after his well-publicised meeting with the Stamford Bridge chief executive Peter Kenyon.

Those fans, like the manager Alex Ferguson, feel Ferdinand should commit himself to Old Trafford after being offered a big pay increase, especially as the club stood by him throughout his drug-test debacle.

A chant of "Stevie Bruce" might have been a reminder to Ferdinand of the loyalty of one former United centre back but antipathy toward him was by no means unanimous. Other fans chanted "Rio" loudly several times.

Ferguson, whose strong comments about the need for Ferdinand to sign his contract must have inflamed the fans, tried to calm matters afterwards. "We don't want to make a monster out of this thing," he told MUTV.

"You can maybe push the players into these things and you can make it worse. He knows we want him to sign and that is important, and he knows the fans want him to. So we don't want to be shoving the lad into something he is not sure about. If he's not sure then he should take time."

Ferdinand was solid but not much tested as United overran a Charlton side lacking ambition, belief, the fight Alan Curbishley would expect and quality in their passing and delivery. Ever vulnerable, they never looked like scoring after wasting one early chance.

Curbishley's future appears even more confused than Ferdinand's. He said in his press conference he was not thinking of leaving at the end of the season after a poor run but had earlier told Sky Sports he was considering his future.

"I do feel like that at this moment in time," he said. "I'm a bit down at the moment and I feel the players have let me down. I expect a bit more from them. One or two have been telling me to turn things around. Let's hope we can do it. It's up to me to turn it around and I have to have a good think about it."

Perhaps a few minutes of reflection caused a rethink because he later spoke of wanting several changes to his squad this summer. "We need to do some business," he said.

United were dominant and sometimes excellent, passing well and picking off Charlton. Wayne Rooney was elusive and skilful and deserved the crowning goal, having hit a post and played a part in two earlier strikes.

Rooney was industrious as well as incisive, as was Alan Smith, who did well in place of the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy. Smith scored a goal that summed up the game, showing greater desire than Talal el Karkouri to win a challenge before finishing neatly.

Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, until substituted, dictated the midfield and were ably supported by Darren Fletcher; only Radostin Kishishev put up a meaningful barrier.

United would have scored more had they not eased up and had Charlton's debutant keeper, Stephan Andersen, not made three good saves.

Andersen played ahead of Dean Kiely so Curbishley could assess him and only in spilling a Rooney shot, which allowed Scholes to tap in the opener, did he let himself down. There was no doubt about the outcome even before Fletcher steered in the second from Scholes's pass just before half-time.

Smith's goal was followed by a nice one-touch move that culminated in Rooney scoring from Kleberson's pass, and the misery for Charlton was compounded when Chris Perry was sent off for shoving Wes Brown as the defender ran toward goal.

Arsenal at Cardiff will be tougher. Ferguson and the fans will hope Ferdinand's future is resolved by then.

Guardian Service