Abby Brammell

Shamed: John Terry projected a clean-cut, family-man image


Under the headline ‘Leader Of The Gang’, it promises readers ‘will find out what Terry the family man is really like’. And we most certainly do. But thanks to the horribly unfortunate timing of the interview, it is not in the manner they had originally envisaged.

Terry is asked: ‘What is the best trick you’ve ever played on a team-mate?’
He replies cockily: ‘There’s been many, but the best one is not for publication!’
And it wasn’t, not until that judge overturned the injunction.

His favourite golfer? ‘It would have to be Tiger Woods,’ he says. And yes, it really would have to be Woods.

His favourite television show? With a delicious irony, he picks Friends.

Say what you like about John Terry, and I certainly will, but he does make writing a column a blessedly easy task.

Putting these unintentional moments of hilarity aside, he did offer up one significant and misplaced boast.

‘Taking the lead in a changing room of big personalities is something I’ve dealt with.

It’s not a problem. We have a good bunch of players in the England squad who are honest with each other - and that’s how I want it to be. It’s not just about me because I’m captain, we all have to be honest.’

So how has that been going?

This is why Fabio Capello made the only call he could when he stripped Terry of the captaincy on Friday .

The faux moralising about who this unsavoury individual had bedded was not his prime concern. He is a pragmatic man who only troubles himself with results.

Besides, he hails from a land run by the ludicrous philanderer Silvio Berlusconi.

But Terry has demonstrated he has an unfortunate knack of landing himself in a disreputable mess. Whatever excuses and alibis were offered in their brief chat, Capello knew he could not afford another. He simply decided Terry was not ‘the leader of his gang’.

I’ll lay my cards on the table here. I have never believed Terry was the right material for England skipper.

Long before this grubby saga broke, I’d heard too many unflattering tales from within the game to believe he would be anything other than a liability in the job and I have said as much on many occasions. Nothing that has happened has led me to review that opinion.

On the pitch, he is a stoic centre half. Off it, he has proved to be Captain Chav.

There were tours of his club’s training ground sold for cash, emails seeking to profit on his status as England skipper and the underhand bid to flog the perk of his Wembley executive box.

While he cannot be blamed for the acts of his parents, it doesn’t help his reputation when his mother is arrested for shoplifting and his father is filmed selling cocaine.

Too often, he has set a poor example on the pitch, confronting referees and undermining the FA’s Respect campaign.

Then there was the picture of Terry’s Bentley parked in a disabled bay, urinating in public up against a nightclub bar, a fight with a doorman and another alleged affair with someone called Shalimar Wimble, who may or may not be related to Orinoco and Great Uncle Bulgaria for all I know.

It makes for an ugly scrapbook of seedy and unwanted publicity.

Personally, the fact that one footballer has slept with another footballer’s girlfriend is about as surprising to me as ‘supermodel takes drugs’ headline.
I’d even accept that his private affairs should have no bearing on his status as captain if:

a) Life were that simple, and...
b) Terry hadn’t expended quite so much energy in the past couple of years detailing his family virtues.

But in that terrible Punk interview, he says: ‘Most of all, I enjoy spending time with my family, my wife and two kids and taking them to the park. The kids are only three years old and they are great. You are away at hotels a lot in football, so it’s always good to go home.’

It is another statement he might like to revisit.

This week’s scandal only served to highlight his underlying problem, if you’ll excuse the pun.

Terry was simply too dumb or too arrogant to comprehend his role as England captain.

Being skipper is largely an ambassadorial duty. Toss the coin, shake hands with the dignitary, hand over the pennant, look proud in the promotional picture, cry when you don’t pick up the trophy - and that’s it.

Which is why all those who argued there should be no judgmental baggage attached to the captaincy were missing the point.

Terry’s only job as England skipper is to appear respectable. That is all he had to do.

Charged with that perfunctory duty, Terry failed in a quite spectacular fashion time and time again. It is absolutely right he should not have the chance to do so again.

Well done, Signor Capello. Bravo.


source: dailymail