Ince: Terry not a racist

Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince believes Chelsea defender John Terry is not a racist.

The England captain is at the centre of a race row when a complaint was filed after video footage emerged of him appearing to use racist language towards QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

This had led to an investigation into the incident by the Football Association and the Metropolitan Police.

However, Ince has defended Terry, believing that even if he did use racist language, it does not mean that he is a bigot.

“He’s not a racist,” Ince told talkSPORT.

“It’s no excuse to say allegedly what he might have said or what anybody says towards black, white, Chinese (people). But if you say things in the heat of the moment it doesn’t necessarily mean you are a racist.”

“There was probably no intent on what John Terry allegedly said. You go back to Ron Atkinson. He said something many, many years ago but he had so many black players at West Brom so you couldn’t really call him a racist.”

“As far as I’m concerned, people say something in the heat of the moment but that doesn’t make them a racist.”