What a twit: Ashley Cole brands FA a 'bunch of t**ts' on Twitter after John Terry evidence is released Chelsea defender's tweet read: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS"

Ashley Cole today put his England career on the line with an astonishing attack on the FA which dumbfounded Chelsea officials. Manager Roberto Di Matteo had already been forced to confront the formal written reasons of the FA's Independent Regulatory Commission which found John Terry DID racially abuse QPR's Anton Ferdinand in October last year. The findings suggested Terry had been "improbable, implausible and contrived" in his claims that he had been challenging an allegation he believed Ferdinand had made. Cole's evidence in support of Terry was described as having "evolved" through the process, suggesting it was not believed either, while questions were raised over the part played by club secretary David Barnard. But just minutes after club communication chief Steve Atkins had issued a statement backing both Cole and Barnard - and in the middle of Di Matteo's pre-match press conference - the left-back used his Twitter account to slam the FA. Cole Tweeted: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS." It was clear that both Di Matteo and Atkins were stunned and discomforted by Cole's response. Di Matteo said: "I always said that the social network is a good vehicle if used appropriately. Players need to realise Tweets can be viewed by anybody and they have to be responsible." Pushed further on whether Cole's Tweet was proof that the Chelsea players are now "out of control", the Italian added: "We'll look at the Tweet and then we will see. I don't think the players are out of control. Apart from this, I need to see the reasons about it." Atkins, though, gave a clear sign of the club's anger with the 31-year-old as he said: "Robbie has not seen the Tweet. "We would prefer everyone takes the club's lead and holds any comment to an appropriate time, which would be when we find out if an appeal or not. I would say this is not appropriate. But we would reserve our comment." Cole's international future now looks in doubt with the defender just two appearances short of 100 caps. Earlier, Di Matteo had given a defence of Terry which was not exactly unequivocal with regard to the central defender's future as skipper. Di Matteo said: "Look, from my judgement on this man, I've known him many many years since we played together. "I've never had any doubt about fact that his comments would be of any kind of discrimination against any ethic party.

"At the moment he's our captain and available to play. That's the situation. I judge John on way he trains and plays. From that point of view he's been outstanding for us. "When you talk about the behaviour of players, it's probably a deeper issue, not just with footballers. "We live in this society and if there is a problem with the society to accept other people and people from different ethnic origins, that is where we have to start educating our children to be more acceptable to people from other places. "Even people who are rational and composed can lose that composure in a game a little bit. When pushed to edge of mental and physical ability people sometimes act in way they regret afterwards. "We have to do something about it to eradicate it. Whether there is a realistic chance of that I don't know. We have to work towards improving respect on the pitch in general. It doesn't matter where you come from or your colour of skin. It's about respecting each other." Cole later deleted his offensive tweet, but only after it was re-tweeted more than 19,000 times.