www.soccernet.com
Ashley Cole says sorry to FA chief
October 8, 2012
Football Association chairman David Bernstein has revealed that
Ashley Cole apologised to him personally on Monday night over his
offensive Twitter message.
PA PhotosAshley Cole has accumulated 98 caps for England
•
Cole free to face San Marino
•
FA charges Cole over tweet
•
Cole to be punished for rant
•
St George's to get royal opening
•
Blog: No strangers to scandal
Cole, 31, was charged with misconduct by the FA on Monday after his foul-mouthed Twitter rant against the association last week.
The
left-back used his official Twitter account to respond to the
publication of an FA panel's report into the John Terry racism verdict,
which said there were "considerable doubts" about evidence given in
support of Terry by Cole and suggested it had "evolved".
Soon
after its publication, he tweeted: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did
I, #BUNCHOFTW***". Cole has until 16.00 BST on Thursday to respond to
the charge.
Bernstein told Radio 5 Live: "He apologised
immediately on Friday and he came to see me last night and apologised to
me personally.
"He showed real contrition. He said he was really
sorry. He is free to play for England over the coming matches. It is up
to the manager to decide whether he plays or not."
Bernstein was
convinced Cole's apology was heart-felt. He told Sky Sports News: "It
was a serious apology. He expressed a degree of remorse for what he had
done, wished it hadn't happened. I looked him in the eye and really felt
that he meant it."
On Monday, FA sources told ESPN Cole would be
allowed to play for England against San Marino at Wembley on Friday. If
selected, the defender will win his 99th cap for his country.
Bernstein
went on to accept that the Chelsea full-back's actions meant he was
unlikely to captain England for what could be his 100th cap against
Poland next Tuesday.
Asked about the possibility of Cole being
given the armband to mark the occasion, Bernstein said: "To be
absolutely honest I doubt it. We've expressed a view on what we need
with regard to a captain and I doubt it, but we'll see.
"We've had
issues and we've stated publicly many times that we have a very high
level of behaviour and so on and so forth required from an English
captain."
Bernstein also revealed the FA will not appeal the punishment handed to Terry by the independent regulatory commission.
"The
FA I believe will not be appealing it," he said. "But the thing is
still under possible appeal therefore I do not want to talk about the
John Terry thing at all. It's not over yet and John Terry has a right of
appeal himself."
An insider from the Cole camp told ESPN:
"Ashley was extremely upset the minute the John Terry findings came out
which questioned the validity of his evidence. Ashley was extremely
upset, angry and distraught about how he had been portrayed. It is
implicit in his reaction just how angry he was.
"It came out as if
Ashley had not told the truth in his evidence. This is clearly not the
case as far as Ashley is concerned and that prompted his tweet.
"Not
long afterwards, Ashley was advised to remove the tweet, and by that
time his anger had receded and the tweet was removed straight away.
"Roy
Hodgson called Ashley, and while that conversation remains private,
there was no suggestion that Ashley was contemplating quitting
international football, and the fact that he has arrived for England
training would tell you he wants to continue playing for his country.
"Hodgson
is a sensible, mature mind, and Ashley respects people like Roy.
Ashley has no issue with Roy, they get on well, and Ashley apologised to
Roy for what happened.
"Even though Ashley did not accept the
slur against the way he gave his evidence, he apologised for his tweet
to Roy Hodgson, to his club and last night also to David Bernstein.
"Ashley
now has to make a decision about whether to request a personal hearing
against his FA disrepute charge, and it is not as simple as it might
appear.
"There are two issues for Ashley; one the disrepute charge
and to get a fair hearing on that, and the other issue is that all the
attention of the John Terry case seems to have been re directed toward
Ashley.
"Somehow the reason the FA disciplinary hearing were able
to distinguish between the court findings and their own was to do with
the so-called new evidence about Ashley's evidence.
"As yet we
don't know if John Terry plans an appeal, but the way it has been
portrayed is that Ashley lied about his evidence in that case, and that
is not true and something that needs to be addressed in due course."
