Anton Ferdinand believes TV viewers will be shocked at the FA’s gentle handling of John Terry over their 2011 race case – but has offered the Aston Villa coach a fresh chance to bury the hatchet.
Ferdinand uses Monday night’s BBC One documentary, Football, Racism and Me, to attack the FA’s handling of the case and to address the harrowing it had on his family – as well as his own mental health.
He insisted the film is not designed to target Terry but instead to expose a system that continues to let black players down. Ferdinand said: “We were involved in an incident that is still massive. And if we can come together to make positive change then there’s nothing more powerful.
“The fight we are up against is bigger than me and him. And that is the reason why it was important to do the documentary.
“After watching it, there’s an opportunity for him to ring me and sit down and talk about how we can move forward and how things can get better.
“My phone has always been on. My family’s phone has always been on.
“Hopefully this can also educate the FA. For them to say: ‘We’d better start doing things in a better way.’”
Terry was fined £220,000 and banned for four games in 2012 after the FA found him guilty of calling Ferdinand a “f***ing black c***” during the west London derby between Chelsea and QPR the year before.
(Image: Javier Garcia / BPI)
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But a clip from the then-England captain’s FA interview, to be aired on Monday night, suggests Terry was dealt with leniently by the governing body’s investigators.
The FA refused to release the full audio recording and claimed to Ferdinand’s filmmakers not to have kept a recording of his own statement being taken.
Ferdinand added: “I think there are people that haven’t been interviewed by the FA who will be shocked by the film. But this is why I’ve done the documentary. So that people understand and know what potentially could be coming their way, if it happens to them.
(Image: Michael Regan – The FA)
“Also in order for the FA and other governing bodies to look at this and say: ‘You know what? We were wrong, we need to look at this and make sure we don’t do it again.”
Terry declined the chance to appear in Ferdinand’s film.
But the former West Ham and QPR defender added: “The invite is always going to be there and I think after watching the documentary, this will be their chance to come and sit down and utilise my experiences the way that they should be utilised – in a positive way.”
Ferdinand, who addresses West Ham’s youngsters in the film, is hoping other black players learn from his regret at not speaking out about the issue at the time.
He went on: “I hope that they will see me and the way that I’ve been carrying this burden around for nine years and think: ‘If that happens to me, I will speak up.
“But I’d also say that the individual has to be strong enough to be prepared for what would follow. And that is a process that I would want to be a part of, by supporting them.”
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