Four Reasons Why John Terry Must Keep The England Captain’s Armband

Ollie Irish

1st, February 2010

23 Comments

By Ollie Irish

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Believe me when I say that the headline opinion is genuine and not motivated by a desire to take the road less travelled of the contrarian. Well, not much.

So why do I reject the predictable ‘Sack Terry!’ calls of the witch-hunting media (led by the self-righteous likes of The Telegraph’s Henry Winter)? For several reasons:

1) Footballers are not role models. Professional sportsmen are the worst people to have as role models (apart from journalists, who in my experience booze, shag around and do more drugs than any other bunch of people). Yes, I know loads of kids do “look up” to sports stars, and that the irony of JT being voted Farther of the Year is as tragic as it is comic, but seriously, when have footballers ever shown role-model qualities? If you get your morals, ethics and values from the likes of Terry and Stevie G, you’re looking in the wrong place. Try golf instead. Oh, wait…

2) So a sportsman cheated on his partner. And this is news? Sadly, in terms of England stars, Terry is far from alone in his lack of fidelity – he’s a famous and wealthy man, after all. David Beckham has had more than one alleged lover. Bobby Moore’s first wife has told of his indiscretions. And did you forget that Wayne Rooney visited prostitutes whilst in a relationship with current wife Coleen? Ashley Cole cheated on Cheryl. I could go on. And on and on. And then on some more. And do you really think they didn’t all try to cover up their misdemeanours, as Terry did?

3) In international football, the captain’s armband means little. What, you think England’s players played their hearts out for JT before now? The hero-hungry media places far too great an emphasis on the role of England Captain; I’d guarantee that England’s players care little who their skipper is. The very concept of Steven Gerrard or Wayne Rooney being inspired to play better by John Terry is absurd. The armband matters much more at club level – at international level, forget it. If England’s stars play for anyone these days, it’s Fabio Capello.

4) Who else is there? Steven ‘punch-drunk’ Gerrard? He’s not even playing well enough to make the starting XI right now. Wayne Rooney? Why burden England’s best player with extra PR duties? Rio Ferdinand? Nope. Frank Lampard? Maybe, but then he’s best mates with Terry, so it hardly solves the perceived problem. If anything, Terry’s match-winning performance at Burnley on Saturday showed me that he has the mental strength to keep hold of the England armband and not let any outside distractions affect his performance. Because if he can play that well in the middle of a shitstorm, then surely nothing can touch him.

The bottom line: Terry is England’s best defender, he’s in brilliant form and he’s one of the few certain starters for South Africa. That’s all Fabio Capello cares about, I’m sure, and that’s why I think Terry should – and will – captain England this summer. Would I want him as a mate though? Hell no – he seems like a deeply unpleasant man. But for me, that’s a whole different argument.

Agree/disagree? Let’s ‘ave it…

Posted in Chelsea, International football, Opinion, World Cup

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23 Comments

  1. Hind Hassan says:

    Re Sky News

    Could you please call me on 0207 585 4569

    Hind Hassan Sky News Producer

  2. Paul says:

    Maybe he needs the sex to feel confident and on top of this game.

  3. jj ferro says:

    Someone has had the decency to come up aaginst thge majority of two faced reporters. Terry commits an immorality unconnected with his work and we want his immediate dismissal as captain of a football team. Yet those samre reporters have kept their mouth shut when hundreds of MP’s in the course of their works have commited immoralities, in some cases bordering on illegality and they have been allowd to keep their seats until an election is called when they will receive a golden handshake. Shame on all reporters who are obviously on a witchunt, does anybody remember President Clinton?

  4. syndex says:

    he should be sacked not for his indescretions but because barring a few performance he is deeply crap in and england shirt (and more and more regularly in a chelsea shirt).

  5. Geoff Hards says:

    Everyone is missing the most important point here! England must travel to South Africa with the best possible team with the confidence to win the World Cup. So why are all the newspaper journalists trying to rock the boat before we set off in the summer? To be sure, if John Terry is guilty of the things that the newspapers are saying, then he should be punished and he will be, but for God’s sake let’s not punish all the people connected with our national team’s chances of winning the World Cup, by disrupting the sporting qualities that we have and brush aside this scandal. Afterall, the most of us are not perfect…are we?

  6. Jessi says:

    I don’t think he should be stripped of it based SOLELY on his indiscretions. It’d be nice if all our sports heroes lived up to the god-like pedestal we put them on, but they don’t. These guys are human (with lots more money than me), and they are not going to be perfect. What would concern me is the effect this could have in the dressing room. If Bridge and Terry are on the same team, how awkward would that be? Seeing several Manchester City players wearing “Team Bridge” shirts this weekend, it’s not like we can expect players to just forget it.

    I doubt Capello could care less what his players are doing in the bedroom, what the press says, gossip, etc. I would think that one thing that would be on his mind is “will this effect the team morale/unity?”. Maybe it’s not an issue at Chelsea, but he’s not sharing a dressing room with Bridge there. England may be a whole other story.

  7. dan says:

    i’ve got four reasons why john terry should remain england captain: steven gerrard, wayne rooney, rio ferdinand, & frank lampard. the only four contenders to replace him include a serial diver who beats up dj’s for not playing phil collins & hires mobster’s to do his really dirty work for him, a serial prostitute user who once punched out michael gray for talking to him in public, a guy who who skipped out of a drug test & is currently banned for blatant thuggery & a big old tory who is so un-media-savvy he rang-up talksport so he could cry at them for being mean…boo-hoo.

    you can put john terry through the sort of thing he’s gone through this year (how many scandals? 4? 5?) & he’ll respond by upping his level of performance…make no mistake, john terry has been nothing short of magnficent all season. you can’t say the same about the others tbh. john terry is the best defender & captain we’ve got. why couldn’t the notw just save this s*** for after the world cup?

  8. alex says:

    Although he doesnt deserve to loose it, the media have clamped down on the issue and it seems that giving it to Rooney or someone else would be best in order to keep the media eye off of them. The issue should have no bearing on it, but as we’ve seen in the past, the media controls everything, and if England does nothing to change it then they might be frowned upon.

  9. Mirelle says:

    Good article, and godo points. I couldn’t agree more. It’s insane what part of the press are doing in the UK. What, it’s needed a saint to be Captain of a country? How about the Pope? Hmm…
    Point is, what the hell his private life has anything to do with his duty as a footballer/captain? Hipocrisy stinks.

  10. tell it like it is says:

    don’t b stupid…he’snot fit 2 b captain and its a 100% certainty he won’t b in s.africa..your reasons r ill conceived and its a pathetic attempt at an article 2 buck the trend

  11. Joe says:

    “Who else is there?” What about Gareth Barry? He’s a fixture in the team, a proven captain and he has never engaged in any type of disgraceful behaviour. Mind you, if Terry were to be relieved of the armband, it should be for being a dishonourable little shit on the pitch, not off it. It pains me to see the captain of my country spending the best part of a game tickling the ref’s nostrils with his spittle.

  12. Anonymous says:

    syndex is the biggest mug ever!

  13. mizman says:

    “england players dont play their heart out for the captian”. maybe this is the problem.

    i hate the way people where fooled into terrys “im hard but also a family man act.” the mans a coward and should not be leading his country in any way at all.

    would Terry have even admitted it if the gagging order went his way….

  14. Bikram says:

    If he had just cheated on his girlfriend, that would have been OK (not morally), but not enough to strip him off the armband. When he sleeps with one of his own teammates’s ex, that’s a completely different problem. Not only does this show a complete lack of respect for his own teammate, it also could add to disharmony in the dressing room. Plus, I don’t believe he has leadership qualities required to lead England. Of course, Capello does, and that’s what matters. Here’s why, though,
    1. Instead of letting a regular penalty kick taker take the 5th peno against Man U in the CL, he took it himself for the glory.
    2. After missing his peno, he went and cried, completely forgetting that it was still tied, and the game wasn’t lost, YET! Then when Anelka missed his, he didn’t console him like a captain should, but just went ahead and cried himself.
    3. Defended Drogba’s disgraceful actions after the Chelsea-Barca game last year.
    4. Dedicated his England goal to Chelsea fans.

  15. Rex says:

    Bikram, not a bad train of thought.

    I was reading too, that when Drogba was sent off during the Champions League final 2 years ago with MUFC vs. CFC, something about how Terry helped get the whole shebang rolling that saw Drogba off and even had some other actions in that whole escapade.

    I’m not on the out to get JT bandwagon, but this is another incident someone is saying was not of the utmost professional level.

    I’m still pondering what should happen but it’s good sense that the whole team chemistry should not be upset at the moment. But there may be more to come, then what?

    No Sven fan am I, but obviously, the press messed with him to the point of creating news stories with the Fake Sheikh.

    But JT should have known better and in the end, can only blame himself.

  16. Alex says:

    TIGER WOODS FOR ENGLAND CAPTAIN! No, but seriously, Terry is a very poor role-model and awful choice for Captain. He’s a philandering gambling addict who needs a severely good kick in the head. I hope he loses all his money and gets paralyzed from the waist down… ok neck down (!)

  17. kah keet says:

    this bastard tery is a sex maniac! why not he play capello buttock? he not deserved to be england captain! shit and ugly looking face! want to vomit when i see his fucking face! fuck off john the idiot terry!

  18. kah hoe, daniel says:

    this idiot man really a bastard looking! very ugly face also want to be england captain! shit face looking! IDIOT!

  19. Mike says:

    Perfection. How many of these guys can look in the mirror and say they’re clean? Um, how about none of them.
    http://bit.ly/dqceIl

  20. Fnarf says:

    Terry should remain captain but be forced to wear a giant metal car tire locking thingie (Denver boot) on his foot. Er, his cock.

  21. Anonymous says:

    your mum

  22. Andrew says:

    Stuipid Article!!!!

  23. RooDee says:

    The logic here is bizarre and the poll result astonishing – surely it doesn’t reflect England’s thinking???? Terry has rightfully had the captaincy taken away.

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