Would you follow this man into battle?
On Sunday, on this very site, I wrote an article expressing my belief that Fabio Capello had completely lost the plot after a series of bizarre decisions and statements.
The straw which broke the camel’s back was the idea that the England manager was ready to reinstate John Terry as England captain.
I couldn’t believe that after all the drama surrounding the Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend scandal, then the subsequent attempted mutiny in South Africa, where Terry claimed he was going to “have a word” with Capello about how crap England were, he was actually still considered for the most prestigious role in English football.
While I thought the notion of returning Terry to the role of captain was ridiculous there was a tiny, tiny, tiny…..tiny part of me that understood why Capello was considering him. The merry-go-round with the skipper’s armband in the 2-1 win over Denmark, which had seen the likes of Ashley Cole and Gareth Barry wearing it, made Capello’s decision a tad more understandable.
With Ferdinand and Vice Captain Steven Gerrard unavailable for the game against Wales, Capello turning to Terry when the other options available were an air rifle carrying defender, or arguably the most average player ever to win over 20 caps for England didn’t seem that far-fetched.
Although I obviously would like to have seen Wayne Rooney being given the chance, I could forgive Capello for his stupidity, he’s running out of options and I’m not sure Wazza’s quite ready for more national responsibility and expectation.
The latest news tells a different story, not that Terry is seen as a stop gap replacement until Rio returns, but is actually being considered for the role on a permanent basis. In other words Ferdinand will be stripped of the captaincy and it will be handed to John Terry.
Now I understand that a similar situation arose at United, where due to injuries Ferguson felt he could no longer rely on Ferdinand as skipper and wanted someone who would play almost every game. This is different however, Vidic wasn’t stripped of the armband for bringing the role into disrepute and making it untenable for certain players to play alongside him. Vidic also didn’t claim in a press conference that he was going to lead a team of players in some form of half-baked mutiny against Sir Alex.
Also Vidic is not responsible for acting as some sort of example and ambassador to the entire country.
Throughout this season, many in the media have claimed that Terry is ‘back to his best’ and that he’s a truly great leader, yet Chelsea are enduring one of their worst campaigns ever and the defenders form, until only very recently was called into question.
Then there’s Terry’s demeanour and actions on the pitch, he seems to revel in acting in an arrogant way that seems designed to antagonise opposition players and fans, almost the exact opposite of Rio Ferdinand who comes across as being everyone’s mate.
Watching a player I’ve got little or no real respect for, leading out the national team ahead of a man who’s a shining example of how a footballer ambassador should behave, is going to be hard work to say the least. In fact I’d go one further and say it’s beyond me.
While I’ve always supported England, after all I am English, I’ve never quite felt the love and affinity for the national side that I do towards United.
I’ve only attended a few England games for example, the last one being the 4-1 in South Africa- which shows how lucky I am, while I lost count of how many United games I’d been to by the mid nineties.
I don’t feel the same passion I do stood listening to people singing “I’m England till I die” as I would stood singing “U-N-I…..”
I don’t spend almost an hour every day talking about, writing about, reading about and thinking about England, while that’s a fairly conservative day for me when it comes to United.
I’ve struggled at times to put my club feelings to one side while watching the national side, especially when I have to see players I detest such as Steven Gerrard being lauded over because they scored in a pointless friendly.
I would never cease supporting United no matter who was wearing the skipper’s armband, but the idea of seeing Rio stripped of it, to make way for John Terry, makes me feel the 4-1 in Bloemfontein may be the last England game I attend for quite a while.
Why not give our Facebook page a like? Click here: Redflagflyinghigh
Agree with everything you say dude. I started boycotting England matches before the world cup. And even laughed about the Germany result as if it was city who had been hammered. England till I die? If that associates me with John Terry and ashley cole, no thanks.
This article has no sensible meaning in it, you hate Terry coz he is a chelsea player not for his conduct, Rio is a good leader yes but the guy is crippled, he cant play more than 5 matches without being sidelined for months, what has he done as an English captain? Why did Ferguson strip him off the united captaincy in the first place? Lets call a spade a spade and admit that Ferdinand is inelgible to be an english leader due to his fitness, why are suggesting wayne rooney? why not Barry, or even lampard? Terry is a natural leader on the pitch and a solid defender too!!
As anyone with any informed mind knows, due to the official press retractions of all accusations relating to the Perroncel/Terry non-relationship, Terry was relieved of the captaincy under false pretenses. As much as the article writer might prefer to believe otherwise, the campaign against Terry was purely a concerted effort by the press to discredit a player who was the first to invoke a european union-introduced super-injunction against them. It was essential for the press to react against a massive threat to their own legal rights, by showing exactly what might happen to anyone else who goes that route. The fact that they are liable for millions for defamation is immaterial to them – the message has been sent: “cross us and we will join together to ruin you”.
Capello knows this. Anyone who reads the real news knows this. Do some googling if you are blind to the facts and type in “Newspapers print apology to Perroncel” or anything similar. There was not a shred of evidence behind the newspapers’ disgraceful lies. She had an abortion? Lies. Terry paid to keep her quiet? Lies. They had an affair? Lies. And lies they have had to issue apologies for in writing, printed in their papers. But the gullible mob who swallow such trash, like the writer of the article above, still spout the nonsense.
Ferdinand didn’t win the Captain’s armband. He was given it by default. He talks like a dunce, looks like a moron and plays so rarely he’s as good as semi-retired. Even Ferguson tossed him out of the captaincy like pile of rubbish into a bin. Good riddance to a mug who thought he’d profit from the wrongdoing suffered by another.
well said,mate
Well said,
John Terry has no fucking class so giving him the captaincy just shows what English football has come to by having a snake like Terry as captain
Crispin, spot on. These other 2 defending the Terry – captain situation are clearly morons themselves. Barry ? Captain? Don’t make me giggle. Lampard? What leadership qualities and indeed football qualities does he have? Does anyone even care about England anymore? As a nation, were the laughing stock of Europe, because of people like Terry, cole, Rooney and also coz of idiots like sir Cecil defending them. Club first country not even second.
Disrepectful towards team mates…rents out his captain’s box at Wembley against FA rules…alledgedly paying girls to have abortions…
…yep, give this man the armband back – he’s awesome.
I will certainly boycott all games he is in wearing the armband, the man is nothing less than pondlife, the whole family who grew up in a flea pit in dagenham are no better now. A mother who is a thief and a father who sells cocaine. The guy is scum, a bottom feeder.
Rios a model ambassador?? Have you forgotten about his
Missed drugs test? Eight month ban that could easily have been more? Then his immediate return and refusal to sign a new contract? Typical airbrushed history here. Typical united fan 🙂