Ashley Cole charged by FA following 'bunch of tw**ts' tweet

Ashley Cole has been charged by the FA in relation to a tweet in which he labelled the organisation 'a bunch of twats'.

Ashley Cole hit out at the FA on Friday, after it was claimed that his evidence had been changed in the John Terry racism trial.

The FA published its written reasons for an independent commission finding Terry guilty of insulting Anton Ferdinand during a match between Chelsea and QPR at Loftus Road last season.

The Chelsea captain was banned for four-matches and fined £220,000 after the FA found Terry's defence that he had not racially insulted the QPR defender was 'improbable, implausible and contrived'.

In the written reasons, Cole's statement supporting Terry's version was questioned by the commission.

In response, the former Arsenal defender took to Twitter. "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS," he wrote.

Cole deleted the tweet and apologised just hours later, releasing a statement which read: "I had just finished training and saw the captions on the TV screens in the treatment rooms about what was said in the FA Commission ruling about me.

"I was really upset and tweeted my feelings in the heat of the moment. I apologise unreservedly for my comment about the FA."

Despite his apology, Cole has been charged after a statement on the FA's website said: "Chelsea FC's Ashley Cole has been charged by The FA in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute."

The Chelsea defender is meeting up with the England squad at the new FA football centre, St George's Park in east Staffordshire today, with his role in the team unclear ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland.

England manager Roy Hodgson may decide to leave him out of the squad as punishment. The pair had a conversation on Friday after Cole's attack on the FA, but it is understood it was simply a case of Hodgson checking whether the player was effectively retiring from international football.

Should Cole appear in both games, he will reach 100 caps for the national side.

In a further twist, during Match of the Day on Saturday night, former England international Alan Shearer suggested Cole should be dropped.

"I think the FA can put a big statement out here by actually not fining him but actually banning him on Friday against San Marino. Because we've seen players fined £50,000, £60,000, £70,000. That's not a deterrent to them," he said.

“Stopping them from playing football will be a deterrent. If they do it quickly - which they haven't done in the case, which has taken 14 months - if they do it in four to five days, I think it puts a big statement out to the rest of the players.'

In response, Cole retweeted a follower's tweet: 'Alan Shearer says  @TheRealAC3 needs to be banned for comments. I want his opinion on bans for kicking Neil Lennon in the head. #GlassHouses.'

It referred to the episode when Shearer was controversially cleared by an independent commission having kicked Lennon during a game between Newcastle United and Leicester City in 1998. The decision meant that Shearer could play in  that year's FA Cup final.

Cole has until 4pm on Thursday, October 11 to respond to the FA charge.