Arsenal v ChelseaJOHN TERRY will captain Chelsea at Arsenal today with his manager, Roberto Di Matteo, insistent the squad has not been unsettled by an 11-month process which ended this week with a Football Association independent regulatory commission finding the defender guilty of using abusive language with racial connotations directed at Anton Ferdinand.

The former England international is still awaiting the written reasoning behind the four-man panel’s decision to ban him for four domestic matches and impose a €276,000 fine, before deciding whether to lodge an appeal, though his instinct is to continue to seek to prove his innocence.

His legal team may not receive that documentation until early next week, when Chelsea are in Copenhagen for the Champions League tie against Nordsjaelland, with the 31-year-old available pending the result of any appeal.

Terry, who has always denied all charges against him, was found not guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence at Westminster magistrates court in July, and Di Matteo was adamant he had not sensed any unease within his squad after the centre half had been sanctioned by the FA over the incident, which occurred in the defeat at Loftus Road last October.

“Not at all,” said the Italian. “I don’t think it’s unsettled the team. We had a very successful time during the whole process.

There isn’t any sense [of an adverse reaction from team-mates following the judgment], no. Not as far as I know and as far as I can see. He’s going to be available against Arsenal and, from our point of view, there is no change [in terms of his captaincy].”

Chelsea moved to deflect questions on the issue at Di Matteo’s pre-match media briefing yesterday, making it clear there was no desire to prejudice any potential appeal and reiterating it would be “inappropriate” to comment.

The club’s head of communications interjected on nine occasions over the course of the press conference, most notably when questions were lodged over whether the club’s policy on staff and players found guilty of using racist language was as strict as that applied to supporters who commit such an offence.

One fan, Stephen Fitzwater, was banned for life earlier this year for racially abusing Didier Drogba during the FA Cup semi-final victory over Tottenham Hotspur, an incident reported to stewards by fellow Chelsea supporters.

The club retain a zero tolerance policy on the issue and do have their own code of conduct, which is given to players and staff, with Di Matteo conceding there is a requirement to project a positive image to the outside world at all times.

“We have to set good standards,” he said. “I try to set good standards. But, at the end of the day, we won’t be liked by our opposition’s fans. That, generally speaking, is the same for everybody. So we cannot waste too much energy worrying about what they’re thinking. We have to think about ourselves.”

Asked if he believed people deserve a second chance, the manager added: “Yes, I do. I’m sure you’ve made some mistakes in your life. Me too.”

Ferdinand, who had opted against shaking Terry’s hand when Chelsea visited Queens Park Rangers a fortnight ago, broke his own silence on the affair yesterday, on Twitter.

“On a serious note people need 2 read the facts before they send stupid tweets 2 me with liar and grass in it,” he wrote.

“Footage don’t lie!”

That comment seemed to refer to camera shots from the game on October 23rd, 2011, which appear to show Terry using the language to which he has admitted, even if lip readers brought in for the criminal proceedings could not determine the context in which the words had been uttered.

There was frustration acknowledged yesterday by both the Professional Footballers’ Association and Di Matteo at the length of time it has taken for the process to reach this stage – it could potentially drag on for some time yet, pending an appeal – with the FA having initially agreed to suspend its own investigation into the incident at the request of the Crown Prosecution Service.

The summer’s court case was, itself, delayed on the behest of Chelsea and Terry’s legal team, with the PFA now intent upon speaking with the FA to avoid a similar situation ever occurring in the future. “It’s a process and it has taken a bit long,” added Di Matteo.

“It has dragged. Everybody would have liked it to have been a bit quicker. The only thing we can do is wait and see what happens.”

Guardian Service