John Terry refuses to back down in Rio Ferdinand row, calling a fan a 'clown' over his racism case

John Terry took to Twitter in the early hours of Friday morning to defend himself once again in the midst of his past racism allegations towards Anton Ferdinand.

Terry was involved in a social media spat in the build up to that with Rio Ferdinand, Anton's older brother, after after the Manchester United icon placed the Chelsea legend fifth on his list of best centre backs in Premier League history.

And as the pair went back and forth, it gained attention from fans - with one drawing a response from Terry over his alleged racial abuse of Anton.

After stating that Rio had a 'fragile ego' after placing himself as No 1 on his own list, Terry drew criticism from one user who quote-tweeted him, stating: John Terry addressing the fragile ego part of the tweet and not the racist allegations is f****** killing me.

Clapping back, Terry replied: 'Stats don’t lie "NOT GUILTY" Addressed it now what?' alongside a clown emoji.

Terry also took aim at Rio Ferdinand by liking a tweet from a Chelsea supporter who told the latter to 'pipe down' and that he wasn't 'good enough' to lace his boots.

'Ohh you mean the racism case when he got cleared. Pipe Down Rio, you weren't good enough to Lace JTs boots,' the user wrote alongside a snippet of an article headline declaring Terry of being found not guilty of racism.

This incident was all sparked when BT Sport pundit Ferdinand, discussing the topic with Virgil van Dijk, placed the Liverpool star, himself, Nemanja Vidic and Jaap Stam ahead of Terry as the greatest centre backs of the Premier League.

Terry, took offence and fired back on Thursday with a post on his Instagram story showing his impressive statistics during his career, stating that 'stats don't lie'.

This led to the war of words on Twitter later in the evening, with Ferdinand stating that Terry was 'lucky' to make the list following the racism case involving his brother Anton.

Old wounds were opened up as the pair have history, after Terry was accused of using racist language towards Ferdinand's younger brother during a game between Chelsea and QPR back in 2011.

Ferdinand in response to Terry's Instagram story wrote: '@JohnTerry26 The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it's really time to start addressing the fragile ego.

'You're lucky I even put you in the top 5 after the racism case with my brother so be thankful you made it.'

Terry fired back: 'A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1. Thanks for putting me in your top 5.'

Earlier in the day, Terry let it be known he wasn't impressed after being ranked fifth by Ferdinand in the Premier League's all-time best centre-back list, firing back in a post on his Instagram story.

The 41-year-old posted a number of graphics showing statistics - including the number of times he made the World XI, captains with the most Premier League titles and his win percentage being higher than any other defender.

Terry accompanied the graphic with the caption: 'Opinions are great but stats don't lie.'

The Chelsea legend was placed under police investigation back in November 2011 following the allegation of racial abuse against then QPR defender Ferdinand.

Video footage which circulated on the internet led to accusations that Terry calling Ferdinand a 'f****** black c***'.

In response to the video footage, Terry claimed that he was actually asking Ferdinand: 'Oi, Anton, do you think I called you a black c***?'

Terry received a four-game ban and a £220,000 fine from the Football Association, however he was cleared in court after being charged over the incident, and has always denied abusing Ferdinand.

A 2020 BBC documentary 'Football, Racism and Me' looked back at the incident and it was said during the programme that Terry chose not to speak to Anton Ferdinand or take part in the show.

Terry claimed that this was untrue and insisted there have been multiple occasions over the years when he has made efforts to contact both Anton and Rio, who described Terry as 'an idiot' in his autobiography released in 2014.

Terry, told the Times: 'It's disappointing to read and hear that I've never reached out.

'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'.

Liverpool star Van Dijk placed Terry as fourth in his own all-time rankings.

He omitted himself and placed Ferdinand top, following the former United defender with Vincent Kompany, Stam, Terry and ex-Liverpool captain Sami Hyypia.

Ferdinand though did heap praise on Terry while chatting to Van Dijk.

He said in regards to Terry: 'In terms of his longevity at that club, what they won, body on the line, a much better footballer than people give him credit for, could play off his left and right foot.'

After putting Van Dijk in third, the Dutchman disagreed by saying: 'I've only won one Premier League.'

However, Ferdinand responded: 'Yeah I know but I think the impact you have on the team is massive and your attributes will put you right in the top tier.'

Terry is regarded as one of the best Premier League defenders, winning the title on five occasions.