The FA have confirmed that they have charged Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand over his use of improper comments on Twitter.

The charges relate to a comment made on the social networking site based around John Terry's court case for racially abusing the Red Devils' man's brother Anton.

Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole made a statement in court defending the accused player, and a comment was made on Twitter calling the England defender a 'choc-ice'.

The meaning of the saying is believed to connote that Cole went against his ethnicity by being 'black on the outside and white on the inside'.

Ferdinand supported the comment and laughed at the content, which has now caused the FA to act.

"The FA has today charged Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand with improper conduct in relation to comments posted on Twitter," said an FA statement.

"The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race."

Ferdinand has until 4pm on Thursday to respond to the disciplinary charges.

By Gareth McKnight

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