Terry to continue as captain

Chelsea chairman Bruce
Buck has confirmed in an interview with talkSPORT that John Terry will
continue as club captain but has been subjected
to "strong disciplinary
action".
- Di Matteo silent over
captaincy decision
- Terry urged to take
anti-racism role
Terry this week
announced that he would
not appeal after the
Football Association
suspended him for four
games and issued him
with a £220,000 fine for
racially abusing Queens
Park Rangers defender
Anton Ferdinand in
October last year.
Chelsea announced that
they would take internal
action against Terry,
but Blues boss Roberto
Di Matteo pointedly
refused to answer
questions over the
player's captaincy
during a press
conference on Friday,
insisting the decision
would only be revealed
in the build-up to
Tuesday's Champions
League game against
Shakhtar Donetsk.
However, Buck has now
confirmed that Terry will
continue as club captain,
although he will be hit
with "by far" the biggest
fine the club has ever
handed to a player. The
Times believes it to be
around £330,000.
Buck said on talkSPORT:
"John will continue to be
captain of the club. We
have taken disciplinary
action and we think it is
firm disciplinary action
and appropriate for the
circumstances."
Buck said Chelsea had
taken into consideration
the fact that a court had
found Terry not guilty of
the charge earlier this
year as it was unable to
prove the words were
said in an insulting
manner beyond
reasonable doubt.
Of the FA's decision,
which was made on the
balance of probabilities,
Buck added: "We
certainly respect that
decision. We've kept
these factors in mind,
we've consulted with the
owner Mr Abramovich.
This is not a decision
we've taken lightly. It's
not a decision we took in
a half-hour meeting. We
discussed it over a long
period of time and we
think we've taken
appropriate disciplinary
action."
Buck said Chelsea would
not be adding to Terry's
suspension and hoped
that there could now be
some sense of closure
over the matter.
He added: "We would
like to draw a line under
this but, by drawing a
line under it, it does not
mean we want to forget
it. We know the
Ferdinand family will
remember it, we know
John Terry will
remember it, we know
the media will remember
it and we will remember
it too."
Information from the
Press Association was
used in this report

source : soccernet.com