Rio Ferdinand suspended and fined over Twitter comment

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand signed for QPR in the summer

QPR defender Rio Ferdinand has been suspended for three matches and fined £25,000 by the Football Association for comments he made on Twitter.

The 35-year-old ex-England captain has also been "severely warned as to his future conduct" and told to attend an education programme arranged by the FA.

It is believed the misconduct charge related to a comment where he used the word "sket".

The definition of the term is "a promiscuous girl or woman".

Hoops manager Harry Redknapp told BBC Sport he had "no inkling" his centre-back would be served with a three-match ban.

The 67-year-old said he would be meeting with club chief executive Philip Beard on Thursday to discuss whether the club plan to appeal.

On 1 September, Ferdinand wrote the tweet thought to have led to the charge in reply to a message sent to him suggesting his team needed a new centre-half.

He was tagged in a message that read: "Maybe QPR will sign a good CB (centre back) they need one" and wrote back: "get ya mum in, plays the field well son! #sket."

Ferdinand, who made the last of his 81 appearances for England in June 2011, is a member of FA chairman Greg Dyke's commission looking at how to improve English football.

The ex-Manchester United centre-back has sent more than 14,000 tweets since joining the social networking site in 2010.