Andre Villas-Boas wants an end to Anton Ferdinand, John Terry talk

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 19 January 2012

AVB wants an end to Ferdinand, Terry talk

Andre Villas-Boas hopes that Chelsea's FA Cup clash against QPR will not be dominated by the race row surrounding John Terry and Anton Ferdinand.

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has called on the media to refrain from 'speculating' about the racism controversy surrounding Anton Ferdinand and John Terry.

The Blues will meet Queens Park Rangers for the first time since last year's incident where skipper Terry allegedly racially abused the Rangers defender.

The Portuguese boss believes that the build up to their fourth-round FA Cup clash on January 28 should not be centred around the sensitive issue.

"What are you going to do to make that environment a bit better, in terms of headlines and how much time we're going to see taken up with Anton v Terry?" said Villas-Boas. "If you want to finish, avoid speculation about it, about the return to QPR, a repetition of the images.

"We can play our part, but so can the media. It's important to kick any discrimination out of the game, but it won't be a reminder of those incidents. It'll be an intense cup game between two London teams, and hopefully it will be well contested between 22 players.

"I'll have no problem picking John [for the QPR game]. Not at all. He'll have to compete against three others, but we'll make the right decision."

The England captain is due to face magistrates in West London on February 1.