John Terry

[Snuff]

I cannot see what all the fuss is about concerning John Terry acting like a pratt with Wayne Bridges WAG.

The Daily Mail is of course getting into a right lather - wanting the big tube horse-whipped for desecrating the sacred role of England captain.

Come on, the last England captain who meant anything was Billy Wright, or at a pinch Johnny Haynes. Winterbottom at least listened to his captains.

Even the sainted Bobby Moore was just another player to Ramsey and it's been the case ever since.

I was speaking with Eric Caldow recently and he reckoned the last "proper" captain - his words, was George Young.

"He was effectively manager of the Scotland team when I was first capped", said Caldow.

Since team managers came in, the captain has been, at best, a conduit between manager and players, or more often, just another player, albeit a more experienced one.

Probably the last captain who would make on-field adjustments without referral to the bench was Dany Blanchflower when he led Northern Ireland - because he was on the same wavelength as Peter Doherty, his manager.

Terry to me is simply trying to safeguard the commercial opportunities which still fall to England captains, because of old-fashioned attitudes among the public.

[scottish]

"We know of no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodic fits of morality"- Lord Macaulay, 1830.

To me there are two important issues here. Firstly, the FA have (unusually for them) got it right. Fabio Cappello picks the England captain. End of story.

Second, what two (or more) consenting adults get up to in their spare time is their business and with the sole exception of their immediate families has absolutely the square root of sod all to do with anyone else, provided no laws have been broken.

That said, John Terry is an unsavoury character. But we knew this last week. We've known it since at least September 12th 2001 when he and some of his Chelsea team-mates went on a bender at Heathrow and verbally abused American tourists still grieving 24 hours after the terrorist attacks on New York.

Nor was that an isolated incident as Terry's career has been littered with behaviour that can be described as loutish at best. Even now it appears his main consideration in going to court was to protect his commercial interests rather than to avoid inflicting hurt on the partners and families of those involved.

If he loses his commercial contracts, then fine by me. I don't like being told what sauce to pour on my chips or what razor blade to shave with on the grounds that 'Daddy of the Year' John Terry (must have missed the vote on that one) or the unholy trinity of Federer, Henry, & Tiger Woods use Brand Yeugghhh.

Ultimately, we, the public, are to blame. If we actually went out and bought a rival brand deliberately every time we saw an advert which relied on highly paid sports stars further lining their pockets then the companies involved would soon stop paying them for their 'endorsements.'

This guy puts it much better than me.

[Skyline Drifter]

"We know of no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodic fits of morality"- Lord Macaulay, 1830.

To me there are two important issues here. Firstly, the FA have (unusually for them) got it right. Fabio Cappello picks the England captain. End of story.

Second, what two (or more) consenting adults get up to in their spare time is their business and with the sole exception of their immediate families has absolutely the square root of sod all to do with anyone else, provided no laws have been broken.

Agreed.

I don't especially care about his morals. No laws have been broken and it absolutely should be a matter for Capello and Capello alone to decide whether Terry should remain his captain over this.

I don't think it's a non-issue. I accept there is a case for saying he shouldn't continue. It wasn't a random girl he had an affair with, it was a team-mates other half. The mother of his child. That does make it slightly different. Much may depend on the attitude privately of Wayne Bridge and indeed whether Bridge is going to make it into the World Cup squad (which must be debatable at the moment). Although it probably shouldn't. Never the less, if Bridge isn't there then it's probably less of an issue. There won't be many Saints in the England dressing room and there will be several without a doubt guilty of cheating on their partners too.

But it's Capello's call to make and he should make it based on his relationship with the player, with the other players and possibly after talking to Bridge if he's still in the plans.