Ferdinand said: “If you look at what Sam has done at Bolton he seems to have a lot to offer.
“He achieved plenty on a small budget but he will know that at Newcastle the bar will be raised.
“He will have a lot more money to spend and expectations will be a lot higher than at the Reebok.
“It will be interesting to see if he can transfer what he achieved at Bolton to Newcastle but I suspect he will.
“The fact he went for the England job showed he is ready for a bigger challenge and there aren’t many bigger ones than Newcastle.”
He added: “To be manager of Newcastle you have to be a big personality which was something Kevin Keegan brought to the club.
“Big Sam won’t have any problems in that respect.
“He’s shown at Bolton that he can handle the big names such as Jay-Jay Okocha, Nicolas Anelka and El-Hadji Diouf.
“There have been disciplinary problems at Newcastle in the past but I don’t think you’ll get people stepping out of line with Sam.”
