There are few worse sights in life than the British public led by a feral media into a moral uproar. I mistrust the morality of the mob. I heard one fan saying he wouldn’t want a man like Terry holding up the World Cup or England. Do me a favour, do we have to like all our footballers now; do we have to find them morally and politically acceptable too?
Many England fans have never liked Terry as captain. Many think he shouldn’t even be in the side. He certainly pales terribly in comparison to his predecessor. But if you want to get rid of him because of this latest story, then you’ll have to accept he’s out of the squad too. If he has become a divisive figure in the dressing room, stripping him of the captaincy is irrelevant; he would have to be booted out all together to restore morale. With England’s lack of defensive strength, that just isn’t going to happen. If grievances exist they will remain as long as he’s there. So that’s the real choice here.
Capello knows better than most England fans that being captain is increasingly irrelevant. In Italy the guy with the most caps gets it and no one is really that bothered. The rest of it is all so much PR and posing. In other words, Terry is not nearly as important as captain as many, probably including Terry, thinks he is. I’m sure he’d have no qualms about demoting him from the captaincy per se, but he knows it couldn’t stop there.
The only thing Capello has to worry about is if all this hoo-haa affects Terry’s form and team harmony. This seems unlikely if the Burnley game is anything to go by. There’s a type of bloke who seems to thrive on adversity. The best example being Lee Bowyer’s form for Leeds while up in court day after day. His ‘no sleep til Hammersmith’ engine drove Leeds on in Europe in a streak of form he was never to replicate. He was so good that he was on verges of the England squad. In those circumstances, the pitch is a safe haven where you don’t have to think about all your problems.
Terry may do like-wise. If so, England will certainly benefit. If Bridge is present they should sort it out man to man. Traditionally this would mean the wronged man gets three free shots. Wayne gets to thwack John and that puts an end to it. A bit of blood, a few bruises and perhaps some uncontrollable weeping from England’s lion along with some alpha male back-slapping and knee squeezing should put it all to bed.
I hear people saying England team mates have lost respect for him, Really? Surely they all know what sort of man he is anyway, so it’s hardly likely to be a shock. It’s not like this a new thing. He’s not just stepped down off a pedestal of innocence. I mean, does this story surprise you? No, of course not. So do you really think it will surprise long-time team-mates?
Critics should also understand that sexual conquest is often admired by other men, even though it may break up a marriage. A lot of men can separate love and relationships from sex, or at least think they can. And if the woman concerned is a bit tasty then it’s even more admired. You won’t hear anyone admitting this, but it is true nonetheless.
While the wronged wives in these situations understandably attract all the sympathy, there is a reason why women stick with philandering millionaire husbands. They rarely emerge from such relationships in a less advantageous position than they went into the relationship. There’s no going back to the council estate.
If fans start booing him – in the kind of mass public moral outrage that we saw with Cashley – where will it stop? What about judging other fans by the same measure? No one who has had an affair is allowed in.
Adulterers stripped of their season tickets, maybe? Divorced referees hounded out of the game? If you want to start calling the moral shots then you should expect everyone to be judged by the same standards you expect of others. Such public censure feels just too self-righteous. I totally appreciate the need to stick it to Terry but many of us have felt like that his whole career, regardless of his sexual adventures.
There’s much tosh written about how he is an ambassador and a role model. I’ve written many times about the nonsense talked about footballers as role models. If you are letting your kid’s look up to Terry as a role model, then you’re not doing your job properly. Footballer’s can be inspirational to all of us, but they’re not people to copy. Stop worshipping them. They’re just men.
And it’s also worth bearing in mind that we don’t really know what was going on in the relationships of all these people before during and after. The tabloids like to spin a straightforward tale but life is rarely that simple. There are often many factors in play at once. Are you sure you know enough to be so judgemental?
Personally, I don’t care if England footballers are wholesome and decent; I just want them to win the World Cup. It’d be nice if they’re not all total bastards but it’s not essential.
Terry has had a well documented crass, obnoxious side to his personality on and off the pitch. He’s also been generous and charitable too. This is the sort of person Terry has always been whilst England captain and has surely already been factored in to the perception of him by fans and team-mates Nothing has changed, really. We just have a few more alleged details.
So when we boil all this down isn’t Rich Footballer Shags Pretty Woman Who Went Out With Best Mate all a bit of a non-story? It does bring a whole new meaning to Daddies Sauce, though.
Photo credit: Charlie Kinross.
Best piece I have read on this, what happens off the pitch should not affect his position, truth is those wanting him out probably despise the fact they do not have his talent, he leads by example on the pitch with very few willing to put their heads in places like John Terry does, if he did pop Wayne’s bird after he left her what’s the problem it’s between John and his wife to deal with nobody else.
i would rather lose the world cup than have to watch that scum bag terry
lift the trophy,he has a history of misdeeds he is first and foremost all about
john terry. a ist class thug,spitting on tevez sealed it for me.kick him off the team
he doesnt deserve to were the shirt let alone the armband.the sight of him disgusts me.give the armband to lampard or even the foulmouthed rooney
anybody but terry
After reading countless articles on how Capello has no choice but to oust Terry from the national team, this article was a breath of fresh air.
This isn’t just a private matter. He was messing about with an England (former Chelsea) teammates girlfriend. Would you want to have as your captain someone who treated you in this manner? I doubt it. He has lost all credibility. Club football and the national team are different animals. He has to go.
I do completly agree with you on this . There is absolutely no relation between the England NT and morale standards. There is none in much more important professions (politicians, doctors etc), who decide about really important things in our lifes, so why expect this being the truth in such profession as footbal players is beyond me. This whole affair is very unfortunate for the four people (and their families) involved, but is none of anyone else business. As long as the English NT is able to work it out together between themslves (what I believe they are certainly able to do) then this is end of story.
Daily Mail and co. have just made some more money of other peoples lives and the british public is eating it up like people who have no life of their own.
Yup. It is currently a storm in a teacup.
IF this affects the dressing room (and it still might) then Capello has to make a decision. If it doesn’t, then there is no story.
However, if it does affect the team on the pitch, then Capello will need to do something. I would imagine he’ll lose the captaincy as a public slap on the wrist, and the armband will go to Gerrard or Rooney. Terry will appear in a press conference all sorry and tearful, and say he just wants to get on with the business of winning Football matches.
unless we’re all climaing that ‘millionaire footballer shags underwear model’ is somehow suprising?
JT is representing a country…
“He certainly pales terribly in comparison to his predecessor.”
Who is this you speak of?
Also, I wonder exactly how this whole affair went public…
so what its no ones business apart from those involved , these things happen all over the country in all walks of life, the only important thing is wether he can play football or not, obviously he can, so the press should stop all this crap every world cup they try to disrupt the england team to sell more papers, no doubt there be more undercover stings or set ups before the summer, they claim to be writing in the public intrest, the only thing the genuine football fan wants is to win the world cup , who cares whos shaggin who just let them play in peace
JT is wearing an armband because he WAS a leader. Knowing that he has no character or any moral fiber is a clear indication that he has no place as a Captain for England. Hand it off to Gerrard or Ferdinand. Terry should be out.
Terry should be out? That seems a bit of an over-reaction….Especially for someone named the “Hammerin Man.”
There are plenty of reasons to ask Terry to hand his armband over to someone else, but let’s not include his not being able to keep his “hammer” on his tool belt as one of them…
See my interview with Fabio Capello on the USA v England matchup:
Search on youtube for “D-Wreck Interviews Fabio Capello”
‘So hand it off to Gerrard or Ferdinand’ come on!
One filmed on CCTV doing over some poor guy in a bar and the other one banned for 8 months because he cannot turn up for a drugs test.
You would have serious problems finding anybody to be England captain with your high moral standards.
JT to keep the captaincy and lift the World Cup!!!
“He certainly pales terribly in comparison to his predecessor.”
Ok, this piece must be completely sarcastic? No one could honestly believe this.
I think he means in the “chesnuts” region…. you know, the “bulge” area…
There’s a reason Victoria calls him “goldenballs.”
A man is as good as his enviroment. Why so much cries about JT than the uncultured Lady. “a man is a man first before a Captain”
the tabloids did the same demolition job on rugby captain Lawrence Delalio with the intent to de-rail the England team
The truth, or who gets hurt, is of no interest to the press. Any negative impact on our national team only makes these hyped-up stories sell more papers
If Terry had an affair, it would be one thing; to stab a “good friend”, club and national team member in the back like this is unacceptable. Add to it the fact that the money grabbing scumbag was pimping out his England captaincy as part of “brand Terry ” so advertisers would see him as the face of England, and… well, if England keep him on as captain, they get what they deserve.
let me get this strait . . . terry is making 160k euros a week and he pulls a stupid stunt like this? my god that is dumb. but lets keep it in perspective fellas, i don’t think he has broken any laws, so why the hub-hub? all this is, is a PR nightmare and it makes terry look like an idiot. let the press say what they will, but truth is . . . if it wasn’t for this they would just find some other rubbish to report on.
that being said, i am sure that the FA will come up with a rule that will prohibit this in the future. and, if someone trys a dumb stunt like this again, there would be major ramifications.
btw, i always think that the players should vote on who wears the capitans armband. if the players lose respect for him, they would vote for someone else. i honestly think this is an internal matter that none of us need to be concerned with.
affairs of the heart have no bearing on the trustworthiness & reliability of a person. Show me a man or woman, married or with a long term partner, that hasn’t imagined being naked with a Person/ persons in a day dream. Now put yourself under pressure of being at the top of your profession, with those dreams offered to you daily. The only people I feel for are John Terry & his wife & family.
Leave them alone to sort it out, & let him captain England!
News flash!!!…..”John Terry is a prat.” omg
Don’t think he’ll be getting many invites to his team mates parties for England or Chelsea (well unless they’re the lads only). If I was Ashley Cole, with his track record I wouldn’t let Terry within a hundred miles of the Mrs! Just think how many of these players could be thinking has my mate John boy paid a vist while I was out? lol
john terry must go, ban him from football,teach him and anyone else it wont be tolerated,what abouth terrys wife ?maybe if terry had thought abouth his wedding vows and his children for one moment if its worth it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/7135322/John-Terry-will-miss-Chelsea-FA-Cup-game-to-see-wife-Toni-in-Dubai.html
JT cares. Of course he cares. Anyhow, that doesn’t change how he plays soccer. He is still a brilliant defender.
let me get this straight . . .
a bunch of guys are giving terry hell for banging a lady that 90% of the guys responding would bang (even if she was the ex of their friend and they had a wife). hypocrites.
bottom line, when it comes to things like this, stay out of his business. all men have a different idea of what they have to do and not do to keep their wife happy. he made his decision and is going to live with it.
considering that mostly men read this blog, and that most married men have cheated (or tried to) . . . how would you feel if i said, “you deserve to lose your job! you cheated on your wife, so how can your boss trust you to be an honest person?”
good grief . . .
dhines :To cheat is one thing and to get caught is another.If you havent got caught then you never cheated.So thebonly people who have cheated so far are the ones who got caught like JT.If am caught tell me I deserve to lose my Job and I will go honourably with dishonour
if that was the case, then most players should be out of a job right? david beckham, tevez, terry, ronaldo, and the list goes on . . . if that is a requirement to be a professional footballer, i am thinking we would have an all-world unemployed squad.
cont . . .
IMO having a weakness for a hot looking lady is nothing to hang a guy over, he is just a man being a man. if you are going to hang him for anything, it is that he was stupid enough to do this in a manner where he got caught.
all you guys flaming him go back in your bubble and pretend that you wouldn’t have done the same thing if she was giving you the time of day. short of the extremely few religious folks that have the strength to do whats right, i don’t think many guys would say no to her.
From the available news it seems that there are some real hard feelings and ill will among certain players. If that continues it will most likely tear apart the locker room. Assuming there are two camps on the issue which there may not be, there maybe only a pro-Bridge camp and Terry maybe alone, you will have a divided locker room. Since legal proceedings appear to be involved it would seem the matter will go on for some time.
So, from my view it would appear Capello must act to remove Terry from the squad. Being Captain is nothing in todays game as stated above. So, if he has to remove Terry the question is can England be as good without him. The answer is no!
What it will give is a crying towel for England fans when England gets a early exit from the World Cup. You can imagine the blame game when England goes out early since the press and fans will never admit their lack of talent!
The fact is he is the captain of his club and country. As such he has to set an example. Is shagging his mate’s missus an example?
When Terry told Ledley King, “Shut up you lippy black monkey” in the notorious game against Spurs at White Hart Lane – then walked off the pitch before the referee even had chance to take out the red card – it was a prime example of the man’s utter lack of class.
When he spat on Carlos Tevez during a live televised football game broadcast to millions around the world he revealed that same lack, this time of class and of any shred of awareness that what he did was the work of a slimeball weasel with no bottle whatsoever.
When he shagged his mate’s missus it wasn’t about the two-timing woman Bridge was involved with, and it wasn’t even about Terry being a dickhead anymore. It was now about his OWN wife and his OWN kids and the complete disregard to showed for his extremely fortunate situation.
I’d love to smack his teeth down his throat with my own hand. He is a little shitbag. End of.
I dont like John terry – i never really have but after an early bout of “footballer in nightclub” incidents i thought he’d cleaned up his act fairly well -but the last 2 years suggest otherwise and the way he treated Chelsea while City courted him didnt help either.
I generally think a personal life shouldnt particularly infringe upon one’s professional life but their is a grey area in this case – an England captain doing the dirty on an England team mate – potentially wrecking the dressing room…. unbelievable stuff.
If England loses Terry, they lose a valuable player.
If England keeps Terry they risk losing public backing.
I see it as lose lose honestly. Terry absolutely has to save Capello the job of responding to public opinion and resign the captaincy – thats currently the only right thing to do.
This is the same drunken John Terry who heckled Americans with his other buddies from Chelsea FC on 9/11 at Heathrow Airport? That would include Frank Lampard as well.
Every comment here are from the JT-haters. Obviously…. seeing all the dark side of him while ignored all the contribution JT had left. Let see if England squad really can survive without JT. Lets challenge Capello to ditch JT from England squad while we all know that this is the very team in the time that capable of winning the World Cup. Let see how we can bear all the humiliation to be knock-out after 2 games. Let see…..
With a Mother who shop lifts, a Father who sells cocaine is it any wonder the guy’s a complete reprobate. Why choose him as Caption in the first place? Probably because the rest of them are as bad. Gerrard likes punching DJs when drunk, Rooney pays grannies for sex after not long being engaged, Ferdinand misses mandatory drug tests on purpose and Ashley Cole likes his affairs! Not much to choose from really.
Not much to choose from? Why always the same names?
ATTENTION: SEE GARETH BARRY.
I agree entirely: A) the captaincy is irrelevant B) sure, John Terry is a creep off the field, but can all of these guys–Cappello included–look in the mirror and say they have no transgressions? Not sure this will help England, but hurt it? Doubtful.
http://bit.ly/dqceIl
Word on the street: in his meeting with Capello, Terry will resign his captaincy.. But ask to remain on the team…
The way you have narrated about Terry , tells me that you don’t like him at all. The line ” He certainly pales terribly in comparison to his predecessor ” caught my eyes. How can you comment like that on a player like Terry. He is one of the best rated defenders in the world. Also he is very good at scoring too. Even last week inspite of all this rumours running around , he scored a stunning header against Burnley and bagged 3 points for Chelsea.
We should not try ending the carrier of a player like Terry just on basis of some scandal. this is the time when we fans has to give him the proper support. He is the best Captain ever England had and now under him England defenitely has an edge in the World Cup.
Speaking from a female perspective…
At the end of the day, John Terry wants to win the World Cup. That is the important thing to remember here. What he did was pretty stupid, no doubt about it. But JT is no different from any other player in his desire to win it all this summer. He still has so much passion for England and if Bridge can’t man up and realize that they’re all gonna be there for the same reason, then shame on him.
All this broo-ha stirred up by the media (and us) is exactly why England will not win the World Cup… again. Good job.
Oh Pete, please brother….
Like most countries don’t hound their players with the rancid dingleberry known as “the media”…of course they do! German rag mags, Italian rag mags… It is particularly bad in England–but seriously, it is no excuse for losing–and it won’t be the reason why England loses….
but sniffle….this posts tenderness nearly brought me to tears….crying out “LEAVE THEM ALONE! LEAVE THEM ALONE!” You wouldn’t happened to be related to Chris Crocker”dile” tears?
John Nic…. decent opinion, but you forgot to address the key issue…. he slept with a TEAMMATE’s wife!!! While captain of club and country, he decided to sleep with the partner of a teammate without regard to his responsibility to the team — be fair, that is clearly the kind of thing that tears a dressing room apart, and if he does it anyways he’s not much of a teammate and should never be captain. That’s the issue that undermines other players’ trust in him (as has been rumored), and thats ultimately what threatens his future in the England squad. I don’t really disagree with your points: footballers aren’t role models, no basis for public’s moral judgment, captaincy doesn’t mean any responsibility to be completely innocent, etc…. but it seems you missed what this is really about.
sackjohnterry.com
i wonder why this issue is becoming too alarming. This an agreement between two people.She agreed to have an affair with JT, she wasn,t forced, if there should be a judgement here, it should be done fairly. JT cheated on his wife not on England, he slept with a team mate ”’ not legally ” wife, or did lady forget she was married or wat.
you should come to RSA and see our prez.
well ladis . seriously john terry is not a professional player . com on people what makes you think he is better than LAMPARD . i love lampard he is the MAN IN ENGLAND NACIONAL TEAM … go kill you’r self terry . ahahhahahha LAMPARD RULES …………..
What Terry, Lampard and Morris did the day after the World Trade Centre was attacked is unforgivable. Drunken louts taunting Americans about their countrymen who died is a disgrace. All three are the lowest form of life, a national disgrace. I guess you can plead terry comes from a dysfunctional home, as he has a shoplifter for a mother and a drug dealer for a father. Scumbags, the lot of them.
since when is sport just about the sport itself, it isn’t just a game,
a sport represents a culture, its an avenue to express a culture,
you can never ignore the person’s character and purely judge talent, we might aswell get robots to play then,
and people develop relationships with their teams, football can solidify a country’s confidence and this confidence needs to be supported by moral, dignity. you may say these things have nothing to do with the sport but the truth is this sport is supported by the culture and people who stand for, hopes for and invests in these moral values, you cannot take these moral values away and expect the sports factor to still stand and be more significant