LONDON (AP) — The Football Association disciplinary panel that banned Chelsea captain John Terry for racially abusing an opponent found his defense “implausible and contrived.”
The panel’s findings were published Friday after being sent to Terry, who has 14 days to decide whether to appeal his four-match ban and 220,000-pound ($356,000) fine.
Terry was cleared in a criminal court in July, but the FA found the former England captain guilty of directing abuse at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match last October.
Terry claimed he only used the racial slur to counter an accusation of racism he claimed Ferdinand was leveling at him.
The FA panel found Terry’s defense “improbable, implausible and contrived,” but insisted “it is not the FA’s case that Mr. Terry is a racist.”
