Ashley Cole takes to Twitter to rant about the FA

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Ashley Cole, the Chelsea and England defender, has taken to Twitter to vent his anger after doubts were cast over the viability of the statement he gave supporting John Terry over the alleged racial abuse aimed at Anton Ferdinand. In a charming turn of phrase, Cole called the FA a ‘bunch of t—s’ for implying that he could be lying.

His outburst was the response to a report being published that questioned the statement Cole made which supported Terry’s version of event during the hearing of the former captain of England which took place last week. Cole’s tirade took place the day after he had been named in the England squad for the crucial World Cup qualifying matches against San Marino at home, and away in Poland.

It rounds off what has been an exceptionally busy week for Roy Hodgson, the England manager, which included an apology to Rio Ferdinand, the Man Utd defender after discussing his international prospects with a complete stranger on the London Underground. Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse up pops Cole and his rant, throwing his own participation in the qualifiers into serious doubt.

Terry was cleared back in July at Westminster Magistrates Court of a racially aggravated public order offence, which was partly due to the testimony given by Cole, his team mate at both club and country level. The FA commission has since, however, found discrepancies in the initial statement which Cole gave in an FA interview regarding what he heard Terry say to Ferdinand compared to statements he gave later.

Cole didn’t say the word ‘black’ in the initial interview on the 28th October, but on the 3rd November David Barnard, the Chelsea club secretary, asked for the word to be inserted into Cole’s statement, this suggesting that Cole may have heard Terry use the term after all.

 

Cole believes he and Rio Ferdinand can be mates again

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Ashley Cole is ready to share a dressing room with England’s Rio Ferdinand after a statement saying that he believes that they can be pals again. Ferdinand and Cole fell out over Cole’s support of John Terry the Blues skipper.

However, Ferdinand may return for an international run with Cole when England attempts to take the World Cup qualifiers against Poland and San Marino.

Hodgson, the boss of England, has not spoken to Rio since he chose not to take him on the Euro 2012 squad, but now that Terry has decided to drop out of the world of international football he will have to do something.

Hodgson is not excited about the idea to take the Manchester United player back on his team, but Cole wants to make it clear that his strained relationship should not be a factor in the decision.

Cole was on the defence for Terry in a courtroom case against that charged Terry of racially abusing Rio’s brother. Terry was cleared of all of the charges but Ferdinand ended up with a FA fine after re-tweeting a racial comment against Cole.

The Terry case brings other issues to the fore

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The FA’s role as a selector of the national side, and a governing body at the same time, has been relieved by the Terry case with the captain of Chelsea claiming that conflict made it impossible for him to be selected to play for England. Many would argue that the situation is actually reversed, but since it is hard to narrow down the Wembley separation of powers this is an issue that is causing a lot of problems for the FA.

Disciplinary measures have always caused discontent among players, and therefore it is not very surprising that the Premier League has always been happy to leave these types of matters up to the FA to handle. However, over the last few years since Lord Burns first brought the topic up since 2005, there have been calls for the FA to create an independent disciplinary chapter so that there are no claims of bias.

The FA has firmly resisted this idea and it is likely that it will resist again in the Terry case although Terry will likely believe that all of the charges against him are the result of a FA agenda. David Bernstein, the Chairman, has not yet made a public comment regarding the Terry case because he does not want it to appear that he is interfering with the disciplinary hearings.

Darren Bailey, the head of governance for the FA, ultimately is the person that decided to bring charges against Terry as he was not connected to the Club England set-up.

Racism in British football still a major problem

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According to a report by a committee from the House of Commons, racism in British football remains a major problem despite improvements in recent years. The report is in response to concerns after the cases against John Terry and Patrice Evra-Luis Suarez. The chair of the inquiry, John Whittingdale MP believes that the recent reports of UK racism highlight the fact that there is still a significant problem.

Homophobia, say MPs, may now have become the most widespread form of discrimination. When Liverpool’s Suarez was found guilty of racial abuse against Evra from Manchester United he was fines £40,000 by the FA and a ban. Meanwhile John Terry, ex-England captain was cleared in July of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, his fellow football player. Mr Whittingdale said that the committee believes the FA should set an example for all football authorities to follow.

Outside of British football, there were moments of racist chanting during Euro 2012 both during matches and at training sessions. A fine of 80,000 euros (£65,000) was given to the Croatian Football Federation for abusing Italian striker Mario Balotelli. During the 1970s and 80s abuse, both racial and otherwise, was common, fortunately the atmosphere and behaviour at football matches has changed hugely.

The report added that charities and initiatives like Show Racism the Red Card helped to reduce the problem where it is worst – in the grounds, on the streets and online – but more work is required. A joint statement from the Football Association, the Football League and the Premier League stated that the progress made in these matters has been substantial but there are still challenges to be met.

 

Steven Gerrard tries to rally the fans for the 2014 World Cup

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Despite a poor showing in recent international tournaments, Steven Gerrard is still convinced that England can lift the 2014 World Cup. The Liverpool and England stalwart has appealed to the football nation to keep faith, and has said that miracles do happen, and you should never stop believing in football.

The next step in Roy Hodgson’s road to Brazil is a stop off in Chisinau to play Moldova in the Group H qualifier. A team from Europe has never won any of the 7 World Cup finals that have been held in North, South or Central America, but Gerrard believes this will inspire England and not deter them.

He said in an interview that he is realistic and honest when he speaks and while England are not one of the current favourites for 2014, that shouldn’t mean that they stop believing or working hard to improve themselves and learn from the mistakes they have made in previous tournaments. He added that the team had time to improve and grow over the next 2 years, with a combination of experienced and new players.

The team have been training at the Zimbru Stadium, where the earlier fears regarding the playing surface unfortunately proved to be founded. The ground, that has a 10,500 capacity, has an uneven pitch with rather longer grass than is suitable for football, even though the local federation had claimed it would be cut. Hodgson also has to deal with losing 3 players he had selected for both this game and the home qualifier against the Ukraine on Tuesday.

The last manager of England who lost the first qualifying game of a World Cup campaign was back in 2000, when Kevin Keegan saw his side go down to old adversaries Germany. Hodgson has spoken out about his reluctance to jettison the likes of Gerrard and Lampard simply because of the public wanting a change, and he said it is very possible that they will both be in the starting line up.