Chelsea's Terry decides against appealing four-match race row ban
John Terry has chosen not to appeal against the four-match suspension issued to him by the Football Association for racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand. An FA independent panel found Terry guilty of racial and abusive language against the QPR central-defender during a game between the two sides at Loftus Road in October 2011.
The Chelsea captain was stripped of the England captaincy over the allegations and in September retired from international duty, citing the FA’s decision to hold an independent inquiry into the affair despite a Westminster Magistrates’ Court clearing him of all charges as having made his position in the England team “untenable.”
According to the BBC, Terry will not refute the four-match ban and instead offered his apologies as an attempt to bring closure to the incident that has dominated both back and front-page headlines for a year.
“I want to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone for the language I used in the game,” said the 31-year-old.
“Although I’m disappointed with the FA judgement, 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. “As I stated in the criminal case, with the benefit of hindsight my language was clearly not an appropriate reaction to the situation for someone in my position. My response was below the level expected by Chelsea Football Club, and by me, and it will not happen again.”
Terry will now miss the European champions and current league leaders’ Premier League fixtures against Tottenham, Manchester United and Swansea, as well as a League Cup tie against Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.
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