Ninety minutes after the final whistle Rio Ferdinand was sitting in his car down a side street less than 100 yards from Upton Park. As West Ham fans ran eagerly towards him, each request for an autograph or picture was granted patiently and with a smile. The words David O'Leary had spoken earlier sprang to mind.
Near the dressing rooms Ferdinand once called home, the Leeds manager was discussing what made his £18 million signing a potentially great centre-half. It was not just talent, he said, but personality; a friendly, down-to-earthness mixed with steely desire.
Despite scoring the goal which killed off his former club and kept Leeds challenging for third place, Ferdinand remains popular at West Ham. As his mother waited in the passenger's seat for the admirers to disperse, the picture was far from the stereotypical arrogant, moneyed star. Ferdinand is not labouring under the illusion he has arrived.
"The first time I met Rio I got a good feel for him," O'Leary said. "The questions he asked me were all about how he could improve himself, not about money. I point out things to him all the time. You can get young players nowadays who take it very personally if you try to tell them things constructively. Rio takes it in the way that I'm trying to improve him."
To suggest Ferdinand returned and gave a masterful display would be stretching the point. He was solid but unspectacular against a lightweight West Ham who remain a victory from safety.
Only after David Batty's 50thminute dismissal for elbowing Joe Cole did they threaten to deny Leeds a fifth straight Premiership win. O'Leary claimed there was no contact for the red card, which left one wondering what happens when Batty does catch someone.
Yet if the challenge facing Ferdinand was too weak to fully judge his progress since he moved north in November, O'Leary has no doubt the 22-year-old has come on, seeing all-round improvements. "He can definitely be the best centre-half in England," the Irishman said. "He's not that far off it now and he can be outstanding in Europe."
Leeds themselves are proving outstanding in Europe and at home. Here they were not at their finest, but they were the better organised and more lively side, and the speed with which they closed down in midfield was vital.
Too many of Redknapp's recent signings look short of quality, and he intends searching for a forward, centre-half and a left-sided player in the summer.
He must have watched enviously as Harry Kewell crossed for Robbie Keane to score early on. Ferdinand barely celebrated his looping 47th-minute header and departed, as he arrived, to a warm reception after Nigel Martyn had been stretched four times.
West Ham United: Hislop, Dailly (Diawara 60), Stimac, Ian Pearce, Winterburn, Moncur (Foxe 36), Lampard, Carrick, Cole, Di Canio, Kanoute (Todorov 10). Subs Not Used: Bywater, Soma. Booked: Moncur, Cole, Foxe, Stimac, Winterburn.
Leeds United: Martyn, Mills, Ferdinand, Matteo, Harte, Bakke, Batty, Dacourt, Bowyer, Kewell (Wilcox 81), Keane (Kelly 87). Subs Not Used: Robinson, Burns, Maybury. Sent Off: Batty (49). Booked: Mills, Dacourt. Goals: Keane 8, Ferdinand 47.
Referee: G Poll (Tring).
