Ferdinand fined £45k for tweet

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been fined £45,000 after being found guilty of improper conduct over comments he made relating to the John Terry racism trial on Twitter.

Ferdinand appeared to endorse a tweet by another user of the social networking site which described Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who gave evidence on behalf of Terry in the trial, as a "choc ice", a term understood to mean someone who is black on the outside but white on the inside.

Terry was found not guilty last month of racially abusing Ferdinand's brother Anton during a Barclays Premier League game between Chelsea and QPR on October 23 last year, although he is also now contesting a Football Association charge over the same incident.

Copyright (c) PA Sport 2012, All Rights Reserved.