ALL hell broke loose when the 63-page document detailing the reasons for finding John Terry guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand went public.
By SHAUN CUSTIS
The FA disciplinary report stressed Chelsea skipper Terry was not a racist.
But that was the only bit of good news for Terry, his team-mate Ashley Cole and Blues’ club secretary David Barnard.
Terry, 31, was systematically ripped to bits by the disciplinary panel which fined him £220,000 and banned him for four games for calling Ferdinand a “f****** black c***”.
It said there was “no credible basis” for Terry’s argument that he was repeating the phrase he thought Ferdinand had accused him of during last October’s QPR versus Chelsea clash.
The panel ruled the defender’s arguments were “improbable, implausible and contrived”.
And they added: “We are quite satisfied, and find on the balance of probabilities, that the offending words were said by way of insult.”
Not to beat about the bush, they accused Terry of being a liar and of deliberately insulting Ferdinand.
His reputation, already tarnished from past misdemeanours, was shredded beyond repair.
Terry, who quit playing for England before the hearing when he failed to get the case dropped, chose NOT to give evidence to the FA commission. It meant the panel had to use evidence he gave at Westminster Magistrates Court where he was cleared of racial abuse three months ago.
Terry had argued that having been exonerated by the court, the FA should not be pursuing him. He felt they were on a witch-hunt. But that cut no ice with the FA’s panel.
They also heard from the FA that Terry’s position as England captain — as he was at the time — had undermined their efforts to combat racism in football.
And the report also stated how the FA had highlighted inconsistencies in Terry’s explanations over the red card he got in last season’s Champions League semi-final in Barcelona.
Terry has 14 days to consider an appeal and remains aggrieved over the whole episode.
A Terry source said: “John is totally focused on the match against Norwich and nothing else. Only when the game is over will he then turn his attention to the FA Commission’s report.
“He will look at it in detail early next week along with his lawyers and advisers.
“There’s no need to rush — we have 14 days to respond. We can make a considered decision although it’s unlikely we will need the full 14 days to do that.”
If Terry appeals, he runs the risk of his ban being increased. It is hard though to see how his reputation could be damaged any further, so he may feel he has not got much more to lose.
The commission had more than Terry in their sights. Cole was also in the firing line.
New evidence of a first interview given to the FA about what he heard Ferdinand say to Terry was compared to later statements and revealed inconsistencies.
He was accused of changing his evidence.
Cole made no reference to Ferdinand using the word “black” in the FA interview but Barnard later asked for the word to be included because Cole might have heard Ferdinand using it.
The commission ruling said there was “considerable doubt over Mr Cole’s claim that he heard, or could have heard, Mr Ferdinand use the word ‘black’.”
On Barnard, who is a prominent member of the FA as well as a Chelsea official, the panel said they had “very real concerns about the accuracy of Mr Barnard’s recollections.”
That was not far short of calling Barnard a liar, too. As soon as Cole had finished training at Cobham yesterday, he launched a Twitter attack against the FA.
The England defender tweeted: “Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFT**TS” That tweet came to light in the middle of Chelsea’s pre-match Press conference and caught manager Roberto Di Matteo like a rabbit in the headlights.
Di Matteo was not happy and neither were the FA who, with the grand launch of their training centre at Burton next Tuesday, were fuming that the occasion would be overshadowed.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are attending and there were serious worries about photos of Cole greeting them.
The Three Lions full-back is also approaching a milestone in his international career, needing two caps to register a century.
Understandably, questions were being asked about whether Cole would be dumped from the squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers until, through his solicitors, he issued an apology for his ill-advised tweet.
That saved the FA from having to take immediate action and Cole was later spoken to by England boss Roy Hodgson.
The player will now report with the rest of the England party to Burton on Monday.
Chelsea stood firmly behind Barnard and Cole regarding their evidence, although Cole will be fined for his tweet.
A club spokesman said: “David Barnard co-operated with the FA at all times. He stands by his evidence and does not accept the criticism that has been made.
“It should also be noted that David was not given the opportunity to give oral evidence to the commission, so we feel any criticism is unjustified.
“Ashley Cole co-operated at all times with the FA and stands by the evidence that he gave and does not accept the criticism that has been made.”
Among the findings there was sympathy for Ferdinand who, as The Sun reported at the time, had a bullet sent to him in the post and was forced to move out of his house.
The commission stated: “The victim impact statement of Mr Ferdinand makes it plain he has been badly affected by the incident.
“He has been the subject of hateful abuse but has acted with restraint and dignity.”
The key findings
1. John Terry’s defence that he had only been repeating words he thought Anton Ferdinand had accused him of saying and had not racially insulted him had “no credible basis” and was “improbable, implausible and contrived”.
2. Character references made it clear that Terry was not racially prejudiced.
3. Questions were raised over Ashley Cole’s statement supporting Terry’s version and the role played by Chelsea club secretary Dave Barnard in later changing that statement.
4. Terry’s stature as England captain at the time was an aggravating feature in the case and that his “conduct undermines the FA’s efforts in combating racism through the Kick it Out campaign”.
5. The Commission’s decision was “on the balance of probabilities”.
6. Terry did not give evidence in person and no witnesses were called on his behalf.
7. The Commission’s written reasons total 63 pages in length, 14,765 words and contain 55 mentions of the word c***.
