John Terry's defence was improbable, implausible and contrived, says FA

In a 63-page ruling, the FA regulatory commission finds that there was "no credible basis" for Terry's defence that he was merely repeating back to Ferdinand in indignation the phrase "fucking black cunt" in the belief that the QPR player had accused him of racial abuse.

It also casts serious doubt on the evidence of Terry's team-mate Ashley Cole and the club secretary, David Barnard, suggesting that the left-back's evidence evolved over time to suit the case that Ferdinand may have said the phrase in question on the pitch.

Terry was cleared by a criminal court in July but subsequently found guilty of misconduct by the FA and handed a four-match ban and a £220,000 fine. Whereas the criminal case had to be proved beyond reasonable doubt, the FA commission made its judgment on the balance of probabilities. Terry has 14 days to decide whether to appeal, Kazinform has learnt from the Guardian.

"The commission is quite satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that there is no credible basis for Terry's defence [in using the phrase]," it said.

The FA commission heard evidence from Ferdinand but not from Terry or Cole, so was forced to rely on their evidence in Westminster magistrates court.

The verdict also reiterates that it was not the panel's job to rule on whether Terry was a racist or not: "In common with the Crown's proceedings, the FA's case is that Mr Terry said the words by way of an insult to Mr Ferdinand. It is not the FA's case that Mr Terry is a racist. There is a large body of testimonial evidence, including statements from black footballers, to say that he is not."

The saga, which along with the incident between Luis Suárez and Patrice Evra, sparked fevered debate about the prevalence of racism in the game, began during an ill-tempered televised match between QPR and Chelsea on 23 October last year. The FA argued that it could not hear the case until the criminal proceedings in July this year had ended with Terry's acquittal.

In new evidence that was considered by the panel but not by the court, it shows in an interview with FA officials five days after the match Cole said he heard a "b-word" but did not mention the word black. In a later emailed statement, Cole says the word "could have been Bridge". But Barnard later emails the FA after discussing the matter with Cole to add the words "black or Bridge".

In his witness statement some 10 months later Barnard also claims that Cole heard the word "cunt" being used in close proximity to the "b-word". But the commission found on the balance of probabilities that Cole's original evidence contained neither that word nor "fucking".

"All of this causes the commission to have very real concerns about the accuracy of Mr Barnard's recollection, and the motivation for the assertions that he makes in his witness statement about what Mr Cole said during the FA interview of him, particularly his alleged use of the word 'black' but also the words 'fucking' and 'cunt'."

The commission said those concerns raised "significant doubts" about the case that Barnard advances.

In deciding Terry's punishment, the commission took into account Ferdinand's victim impact statement, which mad plain he had been "badly affected" by the incident and the high profile nature of the match. Weighed against that was the fact the insult was said only once and the testimonials in favour of Terry by many of those involved in the game, with his team-mate Ryan Bertrand's seen as particularly significant.

The written reasons can be read in full on the FA's website..