John Terry has finally been criticised in public by his employers, Chelsea, for his use of racially abusive language in the infamous confrontation with Anton Ferdinand, with the manager, Roberto Di Matteo, saying that the defender had damaged the club's image and let everybody down.
Terry, who will remain as Chelsea's captain, confirmed in a statement on Thursday that he would not appeal against the Football Association's decision to suspend him from the next four domestic matches, in light of the damning findings of its independent regulatory panel. There was also an apology from Terry for the "language used" against Ferdinand, the Queens Park Rangers defender, at Loftus Road on 23 October of last year, even if there was no acceptance that he had used the words in an insulting way.
Di Matteo has often cut an isolated figure in public, forced to defend the indefensible against a backdrop of angry and hostile headlines. His Friday lunchtime press conference, ahead of Saturday's derby at Tottenham Hotspur, was the latest case in point, when he found himself fending off uncomfortable questions.
It might have been of little solace to him that the chairman, Bruce Buck, and the chief executive, Ron Gourlay, were preparing to be cross-examined on Saturday morning on the radio station TalkSport.
Di Matteo, though, did criticise Terry's behaviour for the first time, even if some of his language was hardly robust, particularly the line about the centre-half having "certainly put a little bit of a cloud over the image of the club".
"The image of the club has suffered from this issue," Di Matteo continued. "There's no denying that. We try to do everything in our power to maintain high standards with the club's employees and supporters. People make mistakes. He has apologised and is being punished. I think he realises that he let himself down and the club in that day and moment. He realises his language was not appropriate. He realises he let himself down and the club and the supporters and he will get punished for that."
Terry's ban, which begins against Tottenham and also takes in the Premier League and Capital One Cup meetings at home to Manchester United, plus the league fixture at Swansea City, was supplemented by a £220,000 fine from the FA and "internal disciplinary action" from Chelsea which, in the face of another volley of criticism, they have refused to disclose. They argue that as it is an HR matter, they are within their rights to keep it in-house, as other companies do.
Di Matteo stuck to the non-disclosure policy so vehemently that he refused to confirm whether Terry would keep the captaincy. Terry is available for Tuesday night's Champions League tie away to Shakhtar Donetsk; In faintly comic scenes, Di Matteo was asked on 10 occasions whether Terry would retain the armband but he would only say that "we will have to wait and see on Tuesday", or words to the same effect.
His stance made it sound as if there was a doubt in his mind or that of the owner, Roman Abramovich, and the board, who have discussed the issue, and Di Matteo appeared to reinforce the impression when he ventured that "you hurt people when you fine them but it's a deeper issue. I'm not sure a fine eradicates the behaviour."
Terry, though, will continue as the captain, with Di Matteo saying that "it will be my judgment on the player, if I do decide to select him because it's appropriate to select him for the team. And as captain."
It was notable that the statement Chelsea released on Thursday, which followed that of Terry, did not accept, either, that he had directed his words at Ferdinand in an insulting and racially abusive way, which begged the question as to what the club had punished Terry for. Their version is that Terry's use of the offending language was unacceptable in any context, even if they did not seem to want to judge that context, which has been at the very heart of the case.
Di Matteo was forced to plot a difficult course through the storm on Friday, between trying to be as supportive as possible of Terry, as he has been all along, and agreeing with the club punishment that has been meted out in the wake of Terry's decision not to contest his ban. Di Matteo said that he had no regrets about standing by Terry, who will attend the derby at Tottenham.
"I believe the evidence he gave to the magistrates court is exactly what happened on the day," Di Matteo said. "He has accepted the ban and realised his language was not acceptable. He gets punished for that, from the FA and the club. That's not getting away with it."
Mark Hughes, the QPR manager, confirmed that Ferdinand had not received a personal apology from Terry. "I think John Terry feels that he hasn't done anything wrong and that has been his stance," Hughes said. "So for him to apologise would perhaps be an admission of guilt so I wouldn't have thought he would be prepared to do that."
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