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Summary The Chelsea star apologized over his foul-mouthed Twitter rant at the English game's governing body
Ashley Cole was hit with a Football Association (FA) misconduct charge on Monday after the Chelsea stars foul-mouthed Twitter rant at the English games governing body.Cole called the FA a bunch of twats after having his evidence questioned by the organisations disciplinary commission conducting an investigation into claims that his Chelsea team-mate John Terry racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.The England left-back later deleted the tweet but only after it was re-tweeted more than 19,000 times, and then made a full apology.But that did not stop the FA taking action, in addition to disciplinary proceedings already taken by his club.A statement on the FAs website said: Chelsea FCs Ashley Cole has been charged by The FA in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.Cole, who is in Englands squad for Fridays World Cup qualifier against San Marino at Wembley, has until 1500GMT on Thursday to respond to the charge.Despite Coles evidence in support of Terry, the defender was banned for four matches and fined 220,000 after being found guilty of racially abusing Ferdinand.Cole had said he thought Ferdinand may have used the word black during the verbal exchange with Terry, which supported his team-mates version of the incident.But according to the FA commission, Cole did not mention the word black in the initial interview with the FA on October 28 last year and the written summary of the case suggested the left-backs evidence evolved over time to suit Terrys defence.Some pundits, including former England striker Alan Shearer, have called for the 31-year-old to be banned from the San Marino game and next weeks trip to Poland as punishment for his tweet.However, Cole has spoken to England coach Roy Hodgson, who was reportedly keen to ensure the player didnt retire from international duty in reponse to the controversy, and was due to meet up with the England squad at the FAs new national football centre, St Georges Park, on Monday.
