ASHLEY Cole has been slapped with a misconduct charge by the Football Association following his foul-mouthed Twitter rant.

The Chelsea defender labelled the FA a 'bunch of t***s' on the social networking site on Friday after the governing body's independent regulatory commission investigating the John Terry race case cast doubt over his evidence.

Cole has since deleted the tweet and issued an apology, but it was not enough to save him from an FA charge this afternoon.

A statement on their website said: "Chelsea FC's Ashley Cole has been charged by The FA in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute."

The England international has until 4pm on Thursday to respond to the charge.

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