Chelsea defender Ashley Cole hit with £90,000 fine for his twitter rants

Ashley Cole has been fined £90,000 after admitting a Football Association charge in relation to his profane outburst on Twitter.

The Chelsea and England full-back labelled the FA a 'bunch of t***s' on the social networking site after an independent regulatory commission of the governing body investigating the John Terry racial abuse case had cast doubt on Cole's evidence.

His comments were swiftly removed but the FA reacted quickly and charged Cole, who has requested a non-personal hearing, which will determine his punishment.

A statement on the FA's website read: 'Chelsea's Ashley Cole has been fined £90,000 after he admitted an FA charge in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.

'Cole, who had requested a non-personal hearing, was also warned as to his future conduct.'

Cole's furious outburst was retweeted more than 19,000 times and provoked large condemnation from the footballing world.

The comments prompted him to apologise to FA chairman David Bernstein, who confirmed two days ago that the England squad had been spoken to about a new code of conduct.

The new code will be in place in time for next month's friendly with Sweden in Gothenburg.