Anton Ferdinand has tried to contact John Terry for the first time since 2011 incident - but has had no reply

Anton Ferdinand has reached out to John Terry for the first time since the incident of alleged racial abuse in 2011 - but says the former Chelsea captain has not returned his email.

In a powerful BBC documentary - Football, Racism and Me - which will air on Monday, Ferdinand has opened up about one of English football's ugliest episodes when Terry was captured on camera saying the words “f***** black c***” during a row with him.

Terry was cleared in court of racially abusing Ferdinand in 2012 but was subsequently banned for four matches and fined £220,000 following an FA disciplinary hearing.

Ferdinand has spoken for the first time about the pain he has suffered since the incident nine years ago.

The 35-year-old former defender hopes speaking about the incident will help ensure no young black players have to go through what he went through.

The last time Ferdinand and Terry spoke was in the changing room at Loftus Road after their incident during QPR’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in October 2011.

“It is the first time I am even contemplating contacting him,” reveals Ferdinand in the BBC documentary.

“He has never tried to get in contact with me. He might of, through people maybe, but if I am honest I probably would never have been ready to speak to him, other than now.

“It is not a situation where I want to bash him for it. I am over that, I am past that, it is bigger than me, bigger than my feelings. This is not an Anton versus John Terry situation, and it never has been for me and my family. It has always been about the bigger picture, about what went wrong throughout it and how not to deal with the situation if it comes up again.

“My concern is the next generation from here. This is my concern. It is about change. I am owning it now, I am talking about it, I have got my voice back. I can’t bare the thought of young players today going what I went through.

“I saw John Terry take a knee. Fair play to him. He got backlash off the back of that on social media, ‘hypocrite and this and that’. I hope him taking a knee and him showing that he is against racism in football and against racism in society, I hope it is sincere, I hope it is coming from a good place. But do not just take a knee, come and speak about it.”

At the end of the documentary, the BBC say: “John Terry still has not returned Anton's email. His representatives told the programme that he did reach out at the time of the incident. They also told the programme he has moved on with his life and career and does not want to reopen a case on television that was decided in court.”

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