Man United defender Rio Ferdinand has denied his FA charge of improper conduct relating to comments he posted on Twitter.

Centre-back requests personal hearing

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has denied his Football Association charge of improper conduct relating to comments he posted on Twitter. The centre-back, who has requested a personal hearing, was on Monday hit with the charge after seemingly endorsing the term 'choc-ice' in the aftermath of the John Terry racism trial. Following the trial, when Terry was acquitted of racially abusing Ferdinand's brother, Anton, the United defender responded to a Tweet that characterised Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who was a defence witness in the trial, as a 'choc-ice'. The term is commonly understood to mean 'black on the outside, white on the inside', and was a reference to Cole's testimony in court, in which he said he never heard Terry make a racist remark to Ferdinand during the match in question at Loftus Road in October. Terry is facing his own charge from the FA for the incident, which he denies, while English football's governing body also decided to charge Ferdinand for his Tweet, which he has similarly refuted. An FA statement read: "Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand has today [Thursday 2nd August] denied an FA charge of improper conduct in relation to comments posted on Twitter. "The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race. "The player has requested a personal hearing."