England boss Roy Hodgson has refused to condemn Ryan Bertrand for the sentiments behind the latest Twitter controversy, even if he accepts the Chelsea man was wrong to use such course language.
Bertrand was forced to apologise for his four-letter condemnation of reports he had pulled out of England's World Cup qualifier against San Marino with a sore throat.
"What he was saying is quite laudable," said Hodgson. "He really wants to play for England and is really angry it has been suggested it is merely a sore throat when he is actually quite ill. But he shouldn't use a swear word."
Although it was the Football Association's official description of the illness that had prevented Bertrand from training since he was called up by Roy Hodgson on Monday, the 23-year-old clearly felts it was an insufficient explanation of his return to the Blues squad.
Less than a week after club colleague Ashley Cole landed himself in hot water with his own Twitter rant, and two days after FA chairman David Bernstein confirmed the England squad had been spoken to about a new code of conduct - that will be in place for next month's friendly with Sweden - Bertrand let fly.
"Just to clarify.... Its not a "sore throat" Im ill. swollen glands in my neck... And constant headache for 3 days now and freezin cold," Bertrand explained on Twitter. "Do you think a "sorethroat" could stop me being apart of a match for my club or country? #yourf******nuts this is what every boy dreams of."
However, he quickly realised his error and wrote: "sorry if i offended anyone by swearing as i don't encourage that type of language. was just disappointed at the thought of people thinking i only have a sore throat.. which is not the case.."
Hodgson added: "It would be a very nice world if we all walked around and there were no swear words," he said. "But you only have to put the TV on to hear as many swear words as you would like. You shouldn't do it but you won't get me to take it as something criminal.
"He has already apologised for it but it goes to show what a problem we will all have with Twitter."
In this instance, the FA are also relaxed about the situation. "The FA's governance department consider any Tweets (from participants) in their full context before deciding on any disciplinary action," an FA spokesman said. "Having considered the context in this case, the FA's governance department are satisfied that no further action is required."
