I'm a lot more mature now: Ferdinand

London, May 30(ANI): Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand reckons that he has come a long way since his wild nights at West Ham, swapping the playboy life to become England captain.

"I'm not on the rave scene like I used to be, I was on the clubbing scene all the time when I was young. If there were parties to be known about, I'd get the phone call because I was the go-to man," The News of The World quoted Ferdinand, as saying.Now a good night for me is to go to a restaurant and have a glass of wine, but I don't got overboard any more. I've got married, I have kids now and a lot has changed for me."There are times when you can let go, but it's at the right times. Back then I didn't know when the right times were. I was young, but now I'm a lot more mature," he added.

Ferdinand's professionalism has paid off, earning the right to become England's skipper after John Terry's dramatic fall from grace.

He further said that he had to make a lifestyle and a professional change, and train harder for successful seasons at Leeds and United.

"If I had carried on the way I was, no disrespect to lower league teams, but that's where I would have been playing. That's a fact. I took stock and evaluated after missing out on Euro 2000. It was more the embarrassment of walking down the road knowing I wasn't even in the squad," Ferdinand said.

"It meant I wasn't going around to my mates' houses until two in the morning playing computer games and listening to music," he added. (ANI)