John Terry claims his efforts to contact Ferdinand have been spurned

John Terry

has repeatedly denied abusing

Anton Ferdinand

in

’s match against

in October 2011. The former Blues defender was cleared in court but received a four-game ban and a £220,000 fine from the Football Association (FA). Ferdinand participated in a BBC documentary called

Football, Racism and Me

in which he claimed Terry had refused to talk to him or take part in the show. In an interview with

, Terry says he has reached out to both Anton Ferdinand and his brother Rio.

"It's disappointing to read and hear that I've never reached out,"

said Terry.

"I tried to phone Rio and Anton on numerous occasions, literally the same night [as the game], the day after, and that week after the incident.

"Then about three, four years ago, I see Rio on the beach in Dubai, so I approached him and said, 'Have you got five minutes? I'd like to talk to you.' He was like, 'I don't want to talk to you, JT.'

"I was prepared to address the issue. I tried to phone Anton, Rio and his agent [Jamie Moralee]. And in the lead-up to the programme, my legal team had contact with the producers with the view to communicate but they were very evasive with the content and what they were trying to achieve.

"It was a lot bigger than it should have been for me. We could have dealt with the issue. I was very keen to get that done."

Terry retired from international duty after the FA found him guilty of racism. However, the defender continued playing for Chelsea and

until his retirement in 2018.

Asked directly whether he is racist, Terry responded:

"No, I'm not - racism is unacceptable,"

He added:

"It's been 10 years now, then to see the documentary and being made to look the bad guy in there... it's done. There's a line in the sand drawn.

"Anton can have his opinion. My opinion is very clear, I was not guilty in the court of law which is the biggest form of our law in our country. No higher."

Asked whether he feels sympathy for Ferdinand, the former England international responded:

"It's been 10 years now, then to see the documentary and being made to look the bad guy in there... it's done. There's a line in the sand drawn.

"Anton can have his opinion. My opinion is very clear, I was not guilty in the court of law which is the biggest form of our law in our country. No higher."

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