SOCCER: JOHN TERRY will remain Chelsea's captain, and is set to lead his side out at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night, despite being found guilty of racial abuse by an English Football Association regulatory commission.
After Terry confirmed in a statement that he will not appeal against the FA’s judgment, Chelsea announced they had imposed “further disciplinary action” against him, which “will remain confidential”.
It is clear, however, Chelsea’s action will not include removing Terry from the captaincy, nor a suspension from matches beyond the four-game ban imposed by the FA’s commission, because such sanctions would be visible, not confidential.
The club said it believed Terry had “made the correct decision by not appealing” against the FA’s judgment that Terry had racially abused Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand during the altercation between the players last October.
However, neither Chelsea’s statement nor Terry’s, which included an apology for the “language used”, included an acceptance that he had used the words as an insult and racially abused Ferdinand.
“The board has taken further disciplinary action in addition to the four-match suspension and £220,000 (€270,000) fine imposed by the FA,” Chelsea said. “In accordance with our longstanding policy, that disciplinary action will remain confidential.”
Chelsea are therefore understood to have imposed a fine of their own on top of the FA’s fine. As they have not consulted with the Professional Footballers’ Association, required for fines of more than two weeks’ wages, it is assumed Chelsea have not fined Terry more than two of his approximately €197,000 weekly wages.
The FA fined Terry’s Chelsea team-mate Ashley Cole €111,000 for his offensive tweet the day of the FA judgment, which found it had “considerable doubts” over the reliability of Cole’s evidence. Reacting to that, Cole tweeted: “Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I #BUNCHOFTWATS”.
The FA said it had fined Cole €111,000 after “he admitted an FA charge in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute”.
The FA will take no action against Cole for giving what was found to be unreliable evidence, nor against the Chelsea secretary, David Barnard, although the commission said it had “significant doubts” about his evidence, also given in support of Terry’s defence.
Chelsea are aggrieved about the judgment on Barnard, a football administrator of long experience, who was previously with Wimbledon, because the club feels it was unfair. It is not clear, however, whether Chelsea plan to take any action, having said they do not intend to appeal against the judgment.
Terry issued an apology “to everyone”, via his agents, Elite Management, but did not specifically name Ferdinand and still stated he is “disappointed” with the judgment. Both his and Chelsea’s statements stopped short of accepting the FA commission’s conclusion that Terry had used the words “f***ing black c***” as an insult. Terry had claimed in his defence, against a racially aggravated public order criminal offence, of which he was acquitted in July, and at the FA hearing, that he had only been repeating the words back, because he believed Ferdinand had accused him of using them.
Terry said: “Although I’m disappointed with the FA judgment, I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life.”
Chelsea’s statement said: “The club firmly believes such language is not acceptable and fell below the standards expected of John as a Chelsea player.”
Lord Herman Ouseley, chair of football’s anti-racism campaign, Kick It Out, said he did not believe Terry or Chelsea adequately recognised “the damage done and the hurt caused to the Ferdinand family” by Terry’s abuse, and Chelsea’s handling of it.
“Chelsea are the European champions,” he said. “We need them, and John Terry, to set a good example, to hold their hands up and accept responsibility, and re-establish a position which is credible.”
Guardian Service
