So John Terry has managed to get himself on both the front and back pages of every newspaper in the country this weekend but despite securing three points for his club, obviously the main topic of conversation revolves around the errant behaviour of the current Chelsea and England captain. I say ‘current’ because whilst clearly his status at Chelsea isn’t under any immediate threat, with the club seeing his infidelity as a personal matter and vowing to ‘stand by their man’ so to speak, his position within the national side is a little more precarious.
You see, just hours after the news broke, so did the mud-slinging and we can roll our eyes as much as we like but at Chelsea, we’re just going to have to suck it up because whilst the man himself will have to get used to anti-JT chants in the months to come, so will the club and its supporters. This weekend it wasn’t just Burnley singing ‘same old Terry, always cheating’ because even over at West Ham, rather than aiming anything at their opponents, they came up with their own version of Carefree: ‘Chelsea, wherever you may be, don’t trust your wife with John Terry.’ And there’ll be plenty more where that came from.
We all know the journo’s in this country are like a dog with a bone and just like any other tasty morsel they get their teeth into they’ll pick this story to pieces and every supporter in the opposing end of every ground will delight in the new material offered up. Not that that’s anything new right? And Chelsea would be no different if the boot was on the other foot.
When it comes to England though, that’s a whole different ball game. Firstly, months of negative publicity in the run up to the World Cup is not something that’ll sit comfortably with Fabio Capello – and rightly so. I’m not going to get carried away believing we could actually win it this time round but with the manager and squad we’ve got, we would certainly have a much better shot at it. So, having a captain who has showed he’s slightly more of a ‘team-player’ than his team-mates might feel comfortable with (particularly once the wags turn up) isn’t something the England manager is likely to be happy about.
And what about that particular team-mate and ‘friend’ John Terry has wronged? So far Wayne Bridge has remained tight-lipped about the whole affair, but you’d have to think the temptation to deck Terry when face-to-face in an England dressing room would just be too great wouldn’t you? Surely having a captain who can restore some peace in the dressing room as opposed to one picking himself up off the floor with a bloodied nose might be preferable as far as Capello’s concerned?
Capello’s not the only one with an opinion on the captaincy either, is he? Because we all know England supporters can be very vocal when they choose to be. It’s not as if John Terry would necessarily have been their first choice when he got the armband anyway. So will they really want him now? We know of old how vocal they can be once they’ve found themselves a scapegoat – our players included – but would it really help our campaign if the England captain himself was the target of their abuse?
The chances are Fabio Capello will be pushed ever closer to making the decision anyway, so why not be seen to do the right thing as far as his team-mates and country are concerned – and resign? That way he still gets to play for his country, so he won’t be letting anyone down but it might appease some quarters of the press to see him forced to sacrifice the position they feel he used to get the injunction in the first place. It’ll also save him the humiliation of being stripped of it anyway. Because it might have been an ‘honour’ for Terry when he was given the opportunity to lead his country but recent revelations point to him being anything but an honourable man as far as the watching world (and Wayne Bridge) are concerned – and that comes at a price.
That price is likely to be his England captaincy and it really is a lot more hassle than it’s worth, so for me, John Terry should just resign before the decision is made for him.
Chelsea > England.
