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Anton Ferdinand believes TV viewers will be shocked by the FA’s kind treatment of John Terry on their 2011 match case – but he has offered the Aston Villa manager a new 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 heartbreaking he’s had on his family, as well as his mental health.
He insisted that the film is not designed to target Terry, but rather to expose a system that continues to disappoint black players. Ferdinand said: “We have been involved in an accident which is still huge. And if we can come together to make positive changes, then there is nothing more powerful.
“The struggle we are facing is bigger than me and him. And this is why it was important to make the documentary.
“After seeing this, there is an opportunity for him to call me and sit down and talk about how we can move forward and how things can improve.
“My phone has always been on. My family’s phone has always been on.
“Hopefully this will 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 “fucking black” during the West London derby between Chelsea and QPR the year before.
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But a clip from the then England captain’s FA interview, which airs Monday night, suggests Terry was treated indulgently by the governing body’s investigators.
The FA refused to release the full audio recording and told Ferdinand’s directors that it had not kept a record of his statement.
Ferdinand added: “I think there are people who have not been interviewed by the FA who will be shocked by the film. But that’s why I made the documentary. So that people understand and know what could happen, if it happened to them.
“Also for the FA and other governing bodies to look at it and say, ‘You know what? We were wrong, we need to look at this and make sure we don’t do it again. “
Terry turned down the chance to appear in Ferdinand’s film.
But the former West Ham and QPR defender added: “The invitation will always be there and I think after seeing the documentary, this will be their chance to come sit down and use my experiences the way they should be. used – in a positive way. ”
Ferdinand, who addresses West Ham youths in the film, hopes other black players will learn from his regret not talking about the matter at the time.
He continued: “I hope they will see me and the way I have been carrying this burden for nine years and they will think, ‘If it happens to me, I will speak.
“But I would also say that the individual has to be strong enough to be prepared for what is to come. And this is a process I would like to be a part of, supporting it.”
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