ASHLEY COLE was forced into a grovelling apology last night, after branding the FA a ‘bunch of t**ts’.
By MARK IRWIN
The dramatic climbdown means he will keep his England place for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland.
But it will not save the Chelsea full-back from a £200,000 club fine for his extraordinary Twitter rant. And he could still face an FA misconduct charge for his reaction to criticism over his evidence in John Terry’s racism case.
Cole later issued a statement, explaining: “I had just finished training and saw the captions on the TV screens in the treatment room about what was said in the FA commission ruling about me. I was upset and tweeted my feelings in the heat of the moment.
“I apologise unreservedly for my comment about the FA.”
But a Chelsea source revealed Cole feels betrayed by the FA.
He said: “Although Ashley has apologised, he’s furious with them.
“He reluctantly co- operated with the hearing. Now he feels the FA have knifed him.
“The only reason he’s not quitting international football is he feels he’s playing for England when he has the Three Lions on, not the FA.”
Cole’s Twitter message was posted at 12.51pm and re-tweeted by more than 19,000 followers before being deleted.
It read ‘Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I. #BUNCHOFT**TS’ The independent commission which handed Terry a four-match ban and £220,000 fine for racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand yesterday explained the reasoning behind their decision.
And part of their verdict claimed they had ‘considerable doubts’ about the reliability of Cole’s evidence on behalf of his team-mate.
England chief Roy Hodgson phoned Cole last night to assure him over his international future.
But his club bosses want to impose a fine of two weeks’ wages.
