John Terry guidelines out chatting with Rio Ferdinand on ex team-mate’s podcast after being blanked on Dubai seaside as feud continues 14 years after claims he racially abused brother Anton
John Terry has quashed any possibility of an imminent reunion with Rio Ferdinand as the feud between the former England team-mates grows well into its second decade.
Ferdinand, 47, cut ties with Terry, 45, after the ex-England captain was accused of racially abusing his brother Anton during Chelsea‘s match against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in 2011.
Terry, who was charged over the incident but cleared in court, has always denied abusing the ex-QPR defender. However, he was hit with a four-match ban and fined £220,000 by the Football Association after its own investigation found him guilty.
Since then the Chelsea legend has spoken about his attempts to rebuild their relationship, but revealed last year that Ferdinand once ‘refused’ to speak with him on a beach in Dubai.
There had been suggestions that Terry could appear on Ferdinand’s podcast, but the former Man United man previously said: ‘He probably needs to speak to my brother before he speaks to me. And he’s not spoken to my brother’.
And now, after being asked whether he would appear on Ferdinand’s show, Terry told Reece Mennie’s podcast: ‘That’s definitely not happening! He doesn’t even talk to me. I would have done, but I approached Rio on the beach about five years ago now. He just had no interest in having a conversation or discussing previous issues.
John Terry has quashed any possibility of a reunion with his former team-mate Rio Ferdinand
Ferdinand cut ties with Terry after he was accused of racially abusing his brother in 2011
The alleged abuse came during Chelsea’s match against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road
‘So, again, it’s like the football thing. You’re not going to keep going and going and going. At some point you go, enough is enough, it’s old news and you move on and get on with your life.’
Terry was alleged to have called Anton a ‘f****** black ****’ after the match with video footage circulating online.
The ex-Chelsea defender subsequently claimed that he had said: ‘Oi, Anton, do you think I called you a black ****?’
The game took place in October 2011 with Terry being charged for using racist language by the Crown Prosecution Service in December.
His trial started in July 2012 and he pleaded not guilty before being acquitted. The FA then charged him for using ‘abusive and/or insulting words or behaviour’ which ‘included a reference to the ethnic origin and or race of Ferdinand’.
The five-time Premier League winner opted not to appeal the decision and subsequently apologised for the ‘language used’.
In a statement, Terry said: ‘After careful consideration, I have decided not to appeal against the FA judgment.
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Terry says he attempted to mend their friendship in Dubai but was blanked by Ferdinand
Ferdinand is said to have blanked Terry and ‘refused’ to speak with him on a beach
He added: ‘Although I’m disappointed with the FA judgment, I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life.’
Terry had previously spoken publicly on the incident during a BBC documentary, ‘Football, Racism and Me’ which was released in 2021.
He claimed that he had spoken to Rio in Dubai, saying: ‘have you got five minutes? I’d like to talk to you’, with the ex-Man United defender responding, ‘I don’t want to talk to you JT.’
Ferdinand, meanwhile, has criticised Terry for how he has handled the case, calling him ‘the biggest idiot’ in his 2014 autobiography.
Terry said during an interview with Simon Jordan on William Hill’s Up Front podcast that he had attempted to speak to Anton about the incident in 2011.
‘I tried to make contact with Anton that evening after the game,’ he said. ‘And I basically got shut down instantly from all of them.
‘I knew Anton, we were mates, we knew each other and always got on well. Obviously, I got on well with Rio. We could have done something that was more powerful than what came about in the end. And that’s probably my disappointment because it’s [racism] is in the game.
Ferdinand has criticised Terry for how he has handled the case – calling him ‘the biggest idiot’
‘Clearly in the stadiums and all of that now that we need to get out for sure. We could have done something very powerful as a group of players, not only us but everybody else I think at the time.’
Anton, meanwhile, has previously responded to comments from Terry that he had reached out to him, denying that the ex-Chelsea defender had been in touch.
He wrote in a tweet in 2021: ‘I never received a call personally from JT prior to the documentary or during the process.
‘As I stated on the doc, the door is still open to have a conversation if he’s serious about racism in football & wanting to create positive change. Call me then JT?’
