John Terry trial: Chelsea footballer was ‘angry and upset’ at racism claim

JOHN Terry has told a court he was “very angry and upset” when he thought he had been accused of racism by Anton Ferdinand.

Chelsea and England defender Terry, 31, is accused of calling Ferdinand a “f****** black c***” during a Premier League match on 23 October last year.

He claims he was sarcastically repeating the words that QPR centre-half Ferdinand mistakenly thought he had used.

Terry is accused of a racially aggravated public order offence, which he denies.

Today he told Westminster Magistrates Court that as the pair traded insults, he heard Ferdinand say: “calling me a black c***”.

“I thought he was accusing me of calling him a black c***.

“I was very angry and I was upset. I replied ‘a black c***, you f****** knobhead”.

The 31-year-old former England captian told the Football Association a week after being accused of racially abusing Queen Park Rangers player Anton Ferdinand that racism was not in his character.

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He said: “I have been called a lot of things in my football career and off the pitch, but being called a racist I am not prepared to take.

“That’s why I came out and made my statement immediately.

“I am not having Anton thinking that about me or anyone else.

“That’s not my character at all.”

Terry denies a racially aggravated public order offence.

The centre-half told the FA investigator Jennifer Kennedy that he was repeating back to Ferdinand what he believed he had said to him.

Terry said he thought Ferdinand was accusing him of calling him a black c***.

He said: “I was taken aback by that. I have never been accused of that.”