Foul-mouthed footballers and bashed Brit Amir Khan

So John Terry is innocent of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, although he admits using a racially abusive term.

Ferdinand admits calling Terry a four-letter word and feels traumatised by the whole affair.

Meanwhile, his brother Rio has been brought into the mess by calling Ashley Cole, a witness for Terry, ‘choc ice’, although he claims he wasn’t being racist when he used the term...

If you’ve got this far then we salute you because it’s enough to make even the most sane and accepting of people weep.

The whole unedifying episode, though, shouldn’t come as a shock. It merely confirms what we all knew about the most popular sport in the world - it’s played by guys you wouldn’t want as relatives and inhabits a world with its own rules and social norms.

No one has come out of this legal storm with any credit. Terry, a man who went into the trial with the sort of reputation that would make even a banker blush, left the court still the poster boy for English football’s ills, in spite of the not guilty verdict.

But let’s face it, that was always going to be the case. As was the finding that the behaviour of Terry and Co on the pitch would shame schoolkids.

Now, we’re not wanting to come across as being on some annoying puritanical crusade. There will always be the odd bout of bad language on a sport’s field. But there has to be a line drawn regarding what is acceptable.

The Premier League, and football in general, cannot accept the billions of dollars that goes with being beamed across the world and then wave away any worry regarding the industrial language used by its main protagonists.

Likewise, the players themselves need to take responsibility and shouldn’t be allowed to pour a volley of invective over their rivals and, more importantly the referee, at every chance.

Will this case change the way players act on the pitch and how abuse (racial or not) is dealt with? We’re not holding our breath - the grossly over-paid, over-hyped bunch haven’t the humility to admit they need to change, and with administrators like Sepp Blatter is it any surprise?

While the players have been confirming just how rotten the game is on the pitch, once again it’s been revealed just how corrupt it is in the boardroom. Septic Sepp has admitted he knew his predecessor as FIFA boss Joao Havelange took ‘bribes’ when in power but didn’t do anything as, technically, the receiving of such payments weren’t illegal. With masters like that, is it any wonder the monied men on the pitch are equally contemptible?

KHAN CRASHES BACK TO REALITY

Amir Khan’s career is at a crossroads following his shocking fourth-round stoppage defeat to Danny Garcia at the weekend.

The American’s lethal flurry of punches has sent the former WBA light-welterweight champion back to square one and having grown quite accustomed to the glitz and glam of the big-time, it’s a resurrection process that may prove beyond him.

Forget about a potential multi-million-dollar bout with Floyd Mayweather, which was reportedly on the cards, he’ll be lucky if he fights in America anytime soon.

For Khan, it’s now back to England to restore his name on the local scene, four years after doing exactly that following the first-round knockout against Breidis Prescott.

And that could be hard to stomach for a fighter who sees himself in the same light as Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao and who lives for the big occasion. Khan only has himself to blame. The British boxer conceded complacency had crept in against Garcia - a stunning admission considering he was coming off a loss, albeit controversial, to drug cheat Lamont Peterson.

All is not lost for Khan, though. At only 25, he has time on his side while his gung-ho style will continue to appeal to promoters. Yet that doesn’t alter the fact he’s a world away from where he was this time last week.

Can he work his way back or is he destined to be a mere stepping-stone for upcoming fighters in their ascent to the top? He has the talent, but does he have the will?