Rio Ferdinand and John Terry in Twitter spat over all-time centre-backs ranking

The social media spat between John Terry and Rio Ferdinand over their respective playing careers degenerated on Friday into an exchange over the allegation that Terry racially abused Ferdinand’s brother, Anton.

The argument had begun on Thursday when Ferdinand, a BT Sport pundit, rated himself first and Terry only fifth in his list of the all-time greatest Premier League centre-backs.

Terry, who helped to inspire Chelsea to five Premier League titles, responded with an Instagram post that listed some of his career highlights and most impressive statistics alongside the words “stats don’t lie”.

Ferdinand replied by saying that Terry was “lucky” to make the list at all following the accusation that he racially abused his brother.

“The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it's really time to start addressing the fragile ego,” wrote Ferdinand. “You're lucky I even put you in the top 5 after the racism case with my brother so be thankful you made it.”

Terry, who has always denied racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, then fired back: “A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1. Thanks for putting me in your top 5.”

This, in turn, prompted a fan to point out that Terry had not addressed Ferdinad’s mention of the racism case. Terry, though, did soon bit back with the reply: “Stats don’t lie "NOT GUILTY" Addressed it now what?” followed by a clown emoji.

He also ‘liked’ a posting from a Chelsea supporter who took aim at Ferdinand. “Ohh you mean the racism case when he got cleared,” he wrote. “Pipe Down Rio, you weren't good enough to Lace JTs boots," the user wrote, alongside an article reporting how Terry was found not guilty in a criminal court. Terry was accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand during a match between Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers in 2011.

The case went to Westminster Magistrates Court where Terry, who had been stripped of the England captaincy, was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence. Terry then did receive a four-game ban and a £220,000 Football Association fine after being found guilty by an independent FA tribunal of using "abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour" which "included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Anton Ferdinand".

Terry also retired from international duty in 2012, saying that the FA’s decision to pursue the case had made his international position “untenable”.

He had been accused of calling Anton Ferdinand a "f------ black c---" in the 83rd minute of Chelsea's defeat at Loftus Road in October 2011. Terry said he had only been repeating words he thought Anton Ferdinand had accused him of saying.

Ferdinand had been discussing the topic of the greatest Premier League on BT Sport with Virgil van Dijk and had placed the current Liverpool centre-back in his top five alongside himself at No 1, Nemanja Vidic, Jaap Stam and Terry.

In response, Terry had posted a number of graphics, which included the number of times he made the World XI, captains with the most Premier League titles and how his win percentage was higher than any other defender. “Opinions are great but stats don't lie,” he wrote.

In discussing his top five Premier League centre-backs, there was praise from Ferdinand for Terry. “In terms of his longevity at that club, what they won, body on the line, a much better footballer than people give him credit for, could play off his left and right foot,” said Ferdinand.

Van Dijk placed Terry fourth on his own all-time rankings, which had Ferdinand top followed by Vincent Kompany, Stam, Terry and then Sami Hyypia.

Jeremy Wilson's top five centre-backs

5. Nemanja Vidic

A very tricky final call. I would struggle also to argue against Vincent Kompany, Jaap Stam or Sol Campbell. Kompany was the greatest all-round playing influence as City first established themselves as a regular title-winning team. Stam was central to the treble of 1999 and a hat-trick of title wins. Campbell was a talismanic ‘Invincible’ but Vidic’s five titles in nine seasons, including the Champions League, is an extraordinary strike-rate.

4. Virgil van Dijk

Perhaps generously high given that Liverpool have won the Premier League title only once but the key criteria here is the combination of influence and sheer quality. And, in the words of John Terry, the stats do not lie. In the four seasons since Van Dijk was signed from Southampton, Liverpool have amassed 97, 99, 69 and 92 points. These are three of the highest tallies in Premier League history and it is no coincidence that the odd season out was when Van Dijk required knee surgery.

3. Tony Adams

His greatness would, of course, span both the pre- and post-Premier League but was still part of two of Arsenal’s three Premier League title wins and helped set standards that were taken on by Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles. A player in the Terry mould who was physically brave and led by example.

2. Rio Ferdinand

Arguably a more complete all-round footballer than Terry, who also won more league titles, as well as playing in United’s Champions League triumph of 2008. He was another leader and absolute winner, but just seemed marginally less important to Manchester United in an era of Rooney, Ronaldo and Vidic than Terry was to Chelsea.

1. John Terry

There is a powerful case for Ferdinand or Terry at the top of this particular poll. Terry, though, just shades it for his wider captaincy influence and how Chelsea’s success rested more heavily on their defence than the best Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal teams. No team has ever conceded fewer than the 15 they let in during the 2004-05 campaign.