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I discussed the story with friends and heard arguments both for and against Terry keeping the captain’s armband. I asked my followers on Twitter for their thoughts, and the two people that replied argued in favour of Terry. They both argued a similar point: that his personal life should not affect his professional credentials.
Unfortunately for JT, in this instance there are two problems with that line of thought. The first is that in having an (alleged) affair with an England international’s ex, Terry’s personal life does undermine him professionally. Wayne Bridge feels betrayed, and rightly so; there’s been talk of him quitting international football because of this. A captain should unite his team, and given the talk of “Team Bridge” and “Team Terry”, it’s clear that this issue has proved to be a divisive one.
The second problem was put to me by Mike Atherton in Thursday’s Times, and by a friend I met in The Courtyard on Thursday evening – the England captain is more than the guy who leads the team out of the dressing room, he’s a symbol. And ultimately, Capello has decided that he doesn’t want this nation’s symbol to be a father of two who chose to (allegedly) cheat on his wife with a French underwear model.
Dara O’Briain made an amusing quip about the allegations on Thursday’s Mock The Week, accusing the English media of scuppering England’s World Cup chances by screwing over the team. But the sad truth is that Terry has made it easy for the media to turn against him. The affair with Vanessa Perroncel is one of numerous scandals he’s been at the centre of; in December he took £10,000 from undercover News of the World reporters in exchange for a secret tour of Chelsea’s training ground, and yesterday the Daily Mail kicked Terry while he was down by revealing that he had been offering his Wembley box out for £4,000 a match. When he lifted the super injunction preventing the media from reporting Terry’s affair, Judge Tugendhat argued that Terry wanted an injunction to protect his sponsorship deals more than his private life.
Terry has been in good form for England, but clearly Capello felt that his actions off the pitch were an unnecessary distraction. Losing the tag of “England captain” will make Terry less of a target for the media (at least when this story boils over), and in promoting Rio Ferdinand from vice-captain, Fabio has avoided further “auditions” for the captaincy like the ones he held when he was named England manager in December 2007.
Rio has been involved in a scandal or two of his own - most notably his eight month ban for missing a drugs test. I was less than thrilled when I realised Rio would be the new England captain; though as a Liverpool fan, I’ll openly admit that a personal dislike for the Manchester United defender was the main cause of my unhappiness. That said, I genuinely hope Ferdinand doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet, and that the England team can get back to preparing for the World Cup.
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