Rio Ferdinand hails Marcus Rashford for forcing Boris Johnson U-turn and says Man Utd ace is setting a brilliant example

"I think he's a young man who is really showing the way for a lot of the young players and people in society that if you believe in something, and you have a platform, you have a voice, and you have the ability to really transcend and change things.

"And even going up against the establishment, almost, they did that with confidence and he got the backing of the nation, and listen, you have to understand as well, it was a cause that was worthwhile.

"In the end Boris Johnson came around and understood that right thing to do was to follow Marcus's lead and that's an unbelievable achievement."

Last June, Rashford persuaded the government to give food vouchers to more than a million vulnerable children during the school holidays.

The United star also raised more than £20MILLION for charity and is continuing to use his platform to drive societal change and help those in need.

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Ferdinand also believes more footballers are using their platform for good in 2021 and recognises how social media can be a useful tool.

He told Peston: "I genuinely do believe social media, much as we see negative sides to it, there are some very big positives.

"I think the players that you mentioned there and more from football are using their own platforms, and essentially some of these players have such big followings that they're actually bigger than some of the corporate media companies in terms of eyeballs and actual people that follow them.

"They have a voice now, they have a platform where nothing that they can say gets blurred or misprinted, it comes out in black and white and it's exactly from them and their team on social media.

"When they speak, it goes direct to the supporters."

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