www.billnelson.com

The most pathetic defence ever? Clearly caught on camera calling Anton Ferdinand a black c***, Terry admits to saying it but claims he was repeating it back to Ferdinand as a question.

If Terry is found innocent, the red half of Liverpool (on the back of the Suarez verdict) will experience a mass collective meltdown.

[quote="sean mac"]Terry admits to saying it but claims he was repeating it back to Ferdinand as a question.
quote]

Yeah right--he doesnt come across as being the sharpest pencil in the box.

To be honest, neither of them comes out of this well. One report I saw said that Ferdinand was 20+ metres away at the time, and didn't hear it. Terry also claims that he asked Ferdinand after the match if he (Terry) had been racist, and Ferdinand said "No".

Don't get me wrong, racism is serious. But I am reminded of Ian Hislop's comment on the court case between former Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed and former cash-for-questions MP Neil Hamilton - "It's a shame that they can't both lose".

For those who have no idea what we are talking about - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18781322

You can call me anything you want if you pay me 50 grand a week PC BOLLOCKS.

Terry is a very public figure and former England captain. The way he behaves, unfortunately, has influence. If you paid me 100 grand a week, or whatever it is Terry is on, I would expect to have to behave impeccably.

This all happened because a member of the public complained after watching YouTube footage of the incident.

It's crazy

Can't see who really benefits from the whole process apart from the lawyers whatever the outcome.

John Terry is a white C***. He’s Joey Barton without the balls (however mutated). He wants to be hard but just isn’t cut out for it. It’s not that he said it as much as the fact that it was instantly what came to mind. Calling him a C*** would have been perfectly fine. But to immediately think black first, well, let’s just say that’s no accident. Of course he’s a racist. But most people are to some degree or another. But most also have enough common sense to not prove it on such a grand scale. Tosser deluxe.

Despite being a Chelsea fan I think it highly likely that Terry is an unpleasant individual. However, what someone calling him a white c*** or white trash have resulted in a major court case? I very much doubt it.

In addition I can think of far worse phrases to be called than the one Terry used. Someone stating you are a motherfu**** is somewhat worse is it not?

As for 'racism' is seems fair game to insinuate certain races, creeds and colours. There needs to be equality in racism!

For me, the issue isn't whether Ferdinand was upset or heard it etc. After all, I'm sure he's had lots of abuse from players, fans etc in his career. Aside from any subjective views about Terry, the problems are these:

- Terry is a high profile public figure and football authorities are trying very hard to tackle racism in the game.

- This incident happened while Terry was at work and 'in the workplace'. If you or I had been in a similar situation at work, what do you think the outcome would be?

My girlfriend's daughter is mixed race. She's been called a 'Paki C***' while innocently standing outside her workplace eating a sandwich. I doubt she'd agree with you.