John Terry certainly seems to be getting more than his fair share of attention in the press of late.
Most of it seems to have come from one interview he did with Chelsea TV and the press being the vultures they are have picked the bones out of it – and for the most part, chosen to put as much negative spin on it as possible.
I suppose it was inevitable there’d be a backlash sooner or later, what with one story after another about his family’s exploits, his own alleged extra-marital affairs and more recently those stories about his sideline in stadium tours. Particularly when you know the press in this country build you up – all the time giving you enough slack because they know that when the time’s right, they’ll still be holding the rope to hang you with.
And John Terry was certainly built up by them to start with. Mr Chelsea, England captain, the British Bulldog who’d die for club and country alike – pretty strong accolades they’d attached to him really. So where did it go wrong? Was it his support of Didier Drogba’s Champions League rantings? His apparent hesitation over a new deal for the club he loves?
Because make no mistake, this season the knives are out for the Chelsea captain. Why else would they have been bothered enough what his dad gets up to in the local to set him up? Or that interested in how JT goes about sorting out money for chosen charities that they’d feel the need to send in the undercover squad to find out? And right now, with nothing else to go on, they’ve taken to unpicking his every word form an interview of choice – a very positive interview it has to be said – and putting them back together in a context befitting their negative, sensationalist headlines.
Still, here’s a few more words from JT from that interview on ChelseaTV:
On our current forms and that of our rivals, the Chelsea captain says “We cannot afford any more slip-ups. Thankfully the teams in and around us have been slipping up as well, but Arsenal are right back in the frame again. When we beat them 3-0 I thought they were out of it to be honest. We need to concentrate on ourselves because apart from the Watford game, when we were brilliant albeit against a lesser side, we haven’t been playing as well. Hopefully that game will give us a boost and we can kick on now, and pull away when the other teams are slipping up.”
So, presumably what he’s actually saying (in press terms) is Manchester United aren’t even in the running, everyone else will keep dropping points so it doesn’t matter, oh and Watford are rubbish. Surely the press have missed a headline or two out of that?
And what about when he talks about the new manager ‘treating’ the lads by saying “It’s the first time since I have been playing that a manager has taken everyone out and paid for it as well. It was a little bit of team bonding. We are with each other 24 hours a day and in each other’s pockets, but everyone enjoyed it and had a good meal.”
Haven’t the rags missed his real point? Isn’t it clear he’s really saying Chelsea managers are generally tight fuckers so Ancelotti’s obviously being paid far too much? On current form you’d have expected the press to do better wouldn’t you?
Come on Editors, do your jobs!
Blue is the colour
