[Marc]

All because of twitter! Heaven forbid anybody ever say anything on the social networking website

Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole has been charged by the FA over an abusive Twitter comment aimed at the governing body.

Cole reacted furiously after it raised doubts over his evidence in the John Terry racial abuse case.

He took to his Twitter page after the FA's report into the issue was published on Friday, and wrote: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFT***S."

He later deleted the post and apologised through his lawyers.

Cole now has until 4pm on Thursday, October 11 to respond to the charge that he brought the game into disrepute.

The Chelsea manager, Roberto Di Matteo, has already said that Cole will be punished by the club.

His fellow Chelsea defender Terry was cleared in Westminster Magistrates' Court in July of a racially-aggravated public order offence, partly helped by the testimony of Cole.

But an FA commission said there were discrepancies in Cole's initial statement to FA interviewers of what he heard Ferdinand say to Terry compared with later statements.

Cole is the second player to face an FA charge for tweeting about Terry's case.

Rio Ferdinand was previously fined £45,000 after being found guilty of referencing ethic origin and race when he re-tweeted a user's comment that referred to Cole as a "choc ice".

Cole is currently on national team duty with England ahead of World Cup qualifiers against San Marino on Friday and Poland next Tuesday.

If he plays in both games, he will become the sixth player to make 100 appearances for England.