John Terry verdict: Chelsea captain's defence was 'improbable and contrived'

- He racially abused Ferdinand 'but is not a racist'- His defence was 'improbable, implausible and contrived'- Chelsea skipper has history of being 'untruthful'- Cole responds to findings with Twitter attack on FA
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Simon Johnson5 October 2012

John Terry was handed a four-game ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand by the Football Association because the independent panel found his defence “improbable, implausible and contrived”.

Today the FA released a 63-page report detailing why Terry was suspended and fined £220,000 after a personal hearing last week.

The Chelsea captain, who has 14 days to appeal, has spent a year fighting the allegation he made a racist comment towards the Queens Park Rangers defender in a match. Terry was found not guilty in court in July but was then charged with misconduct and today’s findings make a damning assessment, although the FA insist he “is not a racist”.

Ashley Cole was criticised in the report for changing his evidence to support Terry and just three hours after the findings were published the Chelsea left-back, tweeted: “Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS”.

Cole is just two games short of a century of caps but that outburst could cost him his place in the squad for England’s World Cup qualifiers qualifiers against San Marino on Friday and Poland four days later.

The allegation Terry faced related to a Premier League match at Loftus Road last October. The former England captain has always maintained that he only

used the words “f*****g black c***” because he was only repeating the words he thought Ferdinand had accused him of saying.

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

“Instead, we are quite satisfied, and find on the balance of probabilities, that the offending words were said by way of insult. Accordingly, the commission find there is ‘clear and convincing’ evidence’.

“A much more plausible and likely explanation is that Mr Terry was angry; angry at Mr Ferdinand’s taunting and provocation of him, angry at the way the match had gone, and angry at the way in which it seemed likely to end.

“The much more likely explanation for what he said is that all of this provoked him into saying “f*****g black c**t” as an insult, which is consistent with the fact that insults preceded and followed those words.”

Terry’s version of events were backed up by Cole in court, claiming he heard Ferdinand ask Terry if he had called him ‘a f*****g black c**t’.

However, the panel revealed today Cole changed his evidence from an initial interview he gave to the FA and the report is also critical of Chelsea secretary David Barnard for his role in this.The FA’s head of off-field regulation, Jenni Kennedy and a colleague who was employed by the FA at the time, Adam Sanhaie spoke to Cole on October 28.

They made notes of the interview which say Cole was not sure the ‘black’ word was used at the time and just referred to a word beginning with ‘b’.

However, six days later Barnard emailed the FA saying that he had spoken to Cole and as a result could several amendments be made to the statement, including the insertion of the word ‘black’.

The findings stated: “It is the FA’s case that Ashley Cole’s evidence has evolved and that the word “black” was introduced retrospectively into the witness statement that he provided to the FA, with a view to bolstering Mr. Terry’s claim that the words that he [Terry] spoke to Mr Ferdinand were not said by way of an insult, but as repetition and forceful denial of what Mr. Ferdinand had accused him of saying.”

The report added: “The commission have considerable doubt as to whether the request to amend paragraph 4 of Mr Cole’s statement, to include the word “black”, was based on Mr Cole’s own recollections, or as a result of discussions that he had had with Mr Barnard, as the e-mail of 3rd November acknowledges they had.”

The panel also took into account what took place in last season’s Champions League semi-final in Barcelona when Terry was shown a red card. It refers to when the captain told a TV reporter one version of events only to admit he was in the wrong afterwards.

The panel said in the report: “For the FA, Mr. Laidlaw contended that this shows that the incident involving Mr. Ferdinand is not the only time that Mr. Terry has been untruthful about what happened on a football pitch.”

Standard Sport understands Terry is concentrating on playing against Norwich tomorrow first before meeting with his lawyers to go through the report. Manager Roberto di Matteo said: “At the moment he is our captain and is available to play.”

The FA refused to comment on Cole’s tweet as did a Chelsea spokesman. However, it is understood Cole faces action from both his club and the FA.

Chelsea’s spokesman defended Barnard and said: “David cooperated fully with the FA at all times. He stands by his evidence and doesn’t accept the criticism.”

What the report says . . .

- Mr Laidlaw (QC for the FA) described Mr Terry’s words as “perhaps an almost unconscious stream of invective”, delivered in anger, and “without thinking”

- It is the FA’s case that the word “black” was introduced retrospectively into the statement he (Ashley Cole) gave to the FA, with a view to bolstering Mr Terry s claim

- The commission have very real concerns about the accuracy of Mr Barnard’s recollections, and the motivation for the assertions that he makes

- The FA does not have any established system, procedure or protocol for dealing with the disclosure order that was made

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