A former soccer legend believes a current star should be banned from Twitter for posting a tirade against the Football Association (FA), the Press Association reported.
While Ex-England captain Alan Shearer called for Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole to be banned from playing in the World Cup qualifier on Friday, his former international teammate, defender Gary Pallister, said clubs should just ban Twitter altogether.
“Once you have tweeted something, you can’t take it back,” Pallister told reporters. “If you are not on there in the first place then it quashes it and you don’t get in trouble, you don’t get fines and suspensions.”
Pallister, who understands where Cole came from, feels that a fine would suffice in such a situation.
“You can understand someone trying to stick up for himself,” he continued. “But with the experience [Cole] has got, and what he has seen happen to others in the same sort of scenario, then he should have known better.”
Cole came under fire after he spoke out against the FA panel’s report on the John Terry racism verdict on Friday. The FA believed that Cole’s evidence in support of Terry presented “considerable doubts.” Cole responded to the criticism on his official Twitter account.
“Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS,” Cole tweeted. His message was retweeted more than 19,000 times before he deleted it.
Cole released an apology later that day and said that he tweeted his feelings in “the heat of the moment.” He also apologized to FA chairman David Bernstein personally on Tuesday, according to Sky News.
Cole was charged by the FA for misconduct on Monday for a comment which was “improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.” He will be docked for two weeks’ pay by Chelsea, which would be around £240,000, as well as a hefty fine from the FA.
It’s thought to be the largest fine for a social media offense in FA history.
According to Bernstein, the decision of whether Cole plays against San Marino Friday is not up to him but rather England manager Roy Hodgson.
Cole has until Thursday to respond to the charge against him.
The FA has had its hands full with a recent surge of racist tweets from players, including Terry, who was banned for four games and fined £220,000 by the independent regulatory commission after he was found guilty of racist comments towards Anton Ferdinand.
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