Ashley Cole apologises for Twitter outburst at FA over John Terry evidence

The fallout from John Terry’s racism ban continued to cause shockwaves yesterday with the Chelsea captain’s defence branded “improbable, implausible and contrived” by the panel who issued the suspension and Ashley Cole apologising after a four-letter tirade at the Football Association.

The independent FA regulatory commission published their full written reasons for banning Terry for four matches for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.

The commission said there was “no credible basis” for Terry’s claim he had only been repeating words he thought QPR defender Ferdinand had accused him of saying.

The three-man panel also questioned why Cole had changed his statement to give more support to Terry’s story, sparking a furious response from the Chelsea and England defender.

The commission said they were satisfied the words “f****** black c***” were intended as an insult by Terry.

The player and his advisers will now spend the international break deciding whether to appeal – he has 14 days to

do so – but given the stance taken by the panel the likelihood of that has

diminished.

The commission’s report stated: “There are further aspects of Mr Terry’s defence that the commission finds improbable, implausible and contrived, and which serve to underline and reinforce our decision.

“The commission is quite satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that there is no credible basis for Mr Terry’s defence that his use of the words ‘f****** black c***’ were directed at Mr Ferdinand by way of forceful rejection and/or inquiry.

“Instead, we are satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the offending words were said by way of insult.

“The commission finds that there is ‘clear and convincing evidence’.”

The commission said that character references from a number of people, including black players, made it clear that Terry was not racially prejudiced.

“It is accepted by everyone involved in the criminal and disciplinary proceedings that Mr Terry is not a racist,” added the commission.

Terry had been cleared in Westminster magistrates court in July of a racially motivated public order offence, partly helped by the testimony of Cole.

However, the commission found that there were discrepancies in Cole’s initial statement to FA interviewers of what he heard Ferdinand say to Terry compared with later statements.

Cole did not mention the word “black” in the initial interview with the FA on 28 October. On 3 November, Chelsea club secretary David Barnard asked the FA for the specific word “black” to be inserted into Cole’s witness statement, suggesting that Cole may have heard Ferdinand use the term.

The commission saw an e-mail exchange between the FA and Barnard and said that should be regarded as “cogent new evidence”.

Cole saw the panel’s comments after training yesterday and reacted on Twitter saying: “Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFT****”. It was retweeted more than 19,000 times before he deleted it.

In a statement released later, Cole said: “I was really upset and tweeted my feelings in the heat of the moment. I apologise unreservedly for my comment about the FA.”

As for Ferdinand, the commission said he had suffered “hateful abuse” as a result of the case but had acted with dignity.

There will also be questions for the FA to address in relation to how they investigate such serious cases.

The written reasons show that FA interviewers did not record an interview with Cole, who was a key witness, but relied on written notes.