Chelsea captain John Terry has denied accusations he racially abused Queen’s Park Rangers player Anton Ferdinand, the brother of England vice-captain Rio.
The alleged incident took place in the 85th minute of QPR’s surprise 1-0 win over Chelsea. Terry seemed to be shouting at Ferdinand, with footage of the incident published on the internet, followed by a flurry of comment on Twitter.
It appeared that Terry mouthed the words ‘you —– black —-’.
The Chelsea defender quickly became aware of the internet footage and, at about 9.45pm on Sunday night, issued a statement in which he categorically denied using racist language.
Terry said that he thought Ferdinand had accused him of making a racist slur and “responded aggressively, saying that I never used that term”.
“Anton and I spoke for 10 minutes in the dressing room after the game and there is no issue between us. It’s finished.”
However, it is understood that Ferdinand was considering taking the matter further on Monday night, but wanted to sleep on it ahead of talks with Warnock on Tuesday lunchtime at QPR’s Harlington training base.
QPR have said they will back their if he does complain to the Football Association, while Chelsea remain firmly behind Terry in his denial of using racist vilification.
Terry said: “I’ll do whatever it takes to clear my name. I don’t have anything to hide. I’m not taking that level of abuse.”
The allegations are being “assessed” by police after a complaint from a member of the public, Scotland Yard said on Tuesday.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We can confirm that police have been notified of an incident on Sunday 23 October involving alleged racial abuse.
“This is currently being assessed by officers from Hammersmith and Fulham.”
Ferdinand, who is the brother of England vice-captain Rio, spoke with officials at QPR yesterday about the incident and will be accompanied by an adviser at today’s meeting with Warnock.
PFA representative Bobby Barnes spoke yesterday to QPR players close to the incident. PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor might be called to intervene.
