Judgment day for John Terry as panel reaches its verdict

John Terry will return to Wembley on Thursday to discover whether he will face a ban for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.

After three days spent hearing evidence from Terry, Ferdinand and other witnesses, the independent panel considering Terry's use of the phrase "f------ black c---" has completed its deliberations, and is expected to hand down its verdict at the national stadium.

After spending more than eight hours in the hearing yesterday, Terry left shortly before 4.30pm having been told to expect to learn his fate today. In the event of a guilty verdict any sanction will be at the discretion of the disciplinary panel, with a ban of four matches considered possible.

Football Association regulations state that in cases with a racially "aggravating" factor, sanctions should be doubled for first offenders. In the most recent precedent, Luis Suarez was banned for eight matches.

Barring any appeal, the verdict will bring to an end a controversy that began more than 11 months ago, when Terry used the offensive phrase in a Premier League match at Loftus Road.

The Chelsea captain was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence at Westminster Magistrates Court in July, but the FA has brought disciplinary charges under its own rules.

Terry is charged with using "abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour, which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race."

The player has already prepared the ground for defeat, with his retirement from international football on the eve of the hearing an expression of his frustration with the FA, as well as a means of setting the context for a pivotal week in his career.

Terry will have 14 days to appeal against any guilty verdict from receipt of the panel's written reasons, meaning that the affair could drag on deep into next month if he chooses to contest a guilty verdict. The FA could also appeal if it was unhappy with the verdict.

Any ban or other sanction will be suspended until the conclusion of any appeal, or until confirmation from Terry that he will not appeal.

Chelsea's next four matches to which a ban could apply are Arsenal away on Saturday, Norwich at home, Tottenham away and Manchester United at home. It is a testing sequence that may figure in Terry's deliberations in the event of a guilty verdict.

The Tottenham game comes at the start of the Kick It Out week of action against racism, when all players are expected to warm-up in Kick It Out campaign T-shirts. Terry would be free to play in the Champions League while suspended from domestic games.

The four-man panel hearing the case has heard evidence from both Terry and Ferdinand, as well as supportive testimony from Ashley Cole, Ray Wilkins, Fabio Capello and his assistant when he was England manager, Franco Baldini. Both Italians provided character references for the former England captain.

Terry's barrister, George Carter-Stephenson QC, initially argued that the FA case should be thrown out because the player had been cleared of criminal charges earlier this year.

Terry was cleared despite admitting using the offensive language, but claiming it was in the context of a question to Ferdinand. Terry said he was trying to ascertain whether Ferdinand thought he had used the words in an offensive context earlier in the match.

Carter-Stephenson argued that the FA's own rules prevented cases from being heard by the governing body if they had previously been dealt with by a court of law.

Paragraph 6.8 of the FA regulations states: "Where the subject matter of a complaint or matter before the Regulatory Commission has been the subject of previous civil or criminal proceedings, the result of such proceedings and the facts and matters upon which such result is based shall be presumed to be correct and the facts presumed to be true unless it is shown, by clear and convincing evidence, that this is not the case."

The FA's lawyers argued that the clause primarily relates to the treatment of matters of facts, most pertinently in this case Terry's admission of using the offensive language.

They argued that the FA rule that Terry is alleged to have breached is sufficiently different from the criminal offence to allow a separate hearing. Under the FA rules and the precedent established by the Suarez case, it is enough to prove that offensive language was used. The player's intent, and the question of any racial element, will only be considered when it comes to deciding the sanction.

Clearing Terry in July District Judge Howard Riddell cast doubt on Terry's explanation for his use of offensive language, saying: "Mr Terry's explanation is, certainly under the cold light of forensic examination, unlikely. It is not the most obvious response. It is sandwiched between other undoubted insults."

Riddell was unable to convict, however, as there was reasonable doubt about the context of the exchange with Ferdinand: "It is...?possible that what he (Terry) said was not intended as an insult, but rather as a challenge to what he believed had been said to him. In those circumstances, there being a doubt, the only verdict the court can record is one of not guilty."

The FA tribunal only has to establish guilt on the balance of probabilities, rather than the higher criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt, something Terry's camp believe makes a ban likely.

England manager Roy Hodgson, meanwhile, is still considering how to fill the hole left by Terry, his first-choice centre-half. Any approach to Rio Ferdinand may be via coach Gary Neville, a former team-mate of Ferdinand's at Manchester United.

Hodgson has given no indication he is interested in selecting Ferdinand throughout his time as manager, however, and there are doubts he will turn to a player who will be 35 by the time of the next World Cup, regardless of how experienced he is.

With Nemanja Vidic out for eight weeks following knee surgery United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be happy if Ferdinand remains outside Hodgson's plans for the World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and away to Poland on October 12 and 16 respectively.