Terry to keep Blues armband

John Terry will not lose the Chelsea captaincy, chairman Bruce Buck confirmed on Saturday.

The former England captain was suspended for four matches and fined £220,000 by the Football Association earlier this month for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. Terry decided this week not to appeal the decision, leaving Chelsea to decide what action of their own to take.

Buck said on talkSPORT: "John will continue to be captain of the club. We have taken disciplinary action and we think it is firm disciplinary action and appropriate for the circumstances."

Buck insisted the details of the fine would remain confidential in line with club policy but said it was the heaviest fine "by far" they had ever meted out to a player.

He said: "We have kept in mind first of all that a court of criminal law found him not guilty. Of course we also note the FA decision and we certainly respect that decision. We've kept these factors in mind, we've consulted with the owner Mr Abramovich.

"This is not a decision we've taken lightly, it's not a decision we took in a half-hour meeting, we discussed it over a long period of time and we think we've taken appropriate disciplinary action."

Chief executive Ron Gourlay argued Terry's long service to Chelsea should also be taken into account but condemned his behaviour in the Ferdinand incident.

He said on talkSPORT: "What you've got to take into consideration as well is John's played over 550 times for the football club, he's captained the side over 400 times, he's led the club and the team tremendously well during these games.

"We believe this was an error of judgment, it was out of character for John. He did fall below the high standards we expect at the club. The language used on the day, whatever the context, was wrong. We've come down on John very, very heavily.

"We are not sweeping this under the carpet. We have had to deal with this for the last 12 months. John let himself down, he let the club down, the words were inappropriate that he used."