John Terry Stripped of England Captaincy

February 5th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

john terry captain John Terry will not be England captain at the 2010 World Cup. Simple as that. Fabio Capello flew back from Italy to make a decision following the revelation of Terry’s alleged affair with Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend, sat down with Terry, and told him the bad news. Unlike John Harkes though, John Terry will remain in the England team. He’ll play at World Cup 2010. He just won’t have an armband around his bicep. He might even be relieved to get out of all the PR activities a World Cup bound England captain is obliged to do.

The English media and bookies were probably hoping for a few days of “Who will be the new captain?” speculation, but Capello has cleverly robbed them of that chance by pointing out that he already named Rio Ferdinand vice-captain and Steven Gerrard as third-choice-captain (vice-vice-captain?) and so it’s a simple case of both men stepping one rung up the ladder.

Capello’s statement released on the FA website is below:

“After much thought, I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry.

“As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour. However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad.

“What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice.

“John Terry was notified first.

“When I chose John Terry as captain, I also selected a vice-captain and also named a third choice. There is no reason to change this decision.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank The FA, particularly Lord David Triesman and Ian Watmore for allowing me to make this decision in my own time and in the best interest of the team.”

Obviously this whole thing has been a tawdry mess, and doesn’t do English football any favours. I’m not even sure they should be allowed to wear all-white at the World Cup now. But credit to both the FA for staying out of it, and to Fabio Capello for being stone cold decisive and leaving very few loose ends. I’m almost tempted to say the whole thing is done and dusted, but we’re yet to see how John Terry reacts, how the England team reacts, and – most gossipy of all – whether Wayne Bridge makes the England World Cup squad.

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http://japan.worldcupblog.org/ Aidan

I think it’s the right decision, and made with as little fuss as possible – no chance for speculation over who will wear the armband instead.

I also think Terry will react to it in a very professional way in terms of playing – he’s dealt with various controversies through his career and it’s never yet affected his play. That’s what I hope happens anyway!
Aiden

Meaning the only question is who will be the new vice-vice captain?

Rooney?
Aiden

Oh wow. Just noticed the similar name. Haha
Mustafa

I think that this could be one of the best things to happen to the English team… because since so much of the focus will be on John Terry, and since the entire focus of the media will remain on him (notice how on the FA press release, it doesn’t even bother to say who is the new captain), he will rise to the occasion, just like he did against Burnley, and likewise, with all the attention on him, it will allow Rooney and Lampard and Ashley Cole and whoever they stick in goal to play with no pressure on them….

I feel like this will be a good thing in the long run, and who knows? When Ferdinand goes down with injury in the group stages, and Gerrard tears his groin in the final, wouldn’t it be fitting to have them hand back the armband to “The Brave” after playing the best stretch of football in his career to lift the trophy over Germany?

(We all know that won’t happen, but wouldn’t that be a nice story?)
Mustafa

oh, and btw, after clicking through the related links, i got to this:

http://www.worldcupblog.org/friendlies/beckham-van-nistelrooy-dropped-from-squads.html

and damn, can you believe that “Ben Watson (Watford)”, “Darren Bent (Charlton)”, “Luke Young (Charlton)”, “Dean Ashton (West Ham)” and “Kieron Richardson (Manchester United)” were all named to the squad just three and a half short years ago?
Mustafa

Ben Foster*** my bad :-p
http://japan.worldcupblog.org/ Aidan

@Aiden … lucky we spell our names differently or I’d have been utterly confused!
http://www.malawi.worldcupblog.org sscouser

Pardon my ignorance. Has Terry been stripped of England Captaincy because of his alleged affair with Wayne Bridge’s EX-GIRLFRIEND or because of infedility? Or are the two mutually inclusive/exclusive?
Wendy

John Terry’s inability to keep his pants on in the company of women who aren’t his wife has nothing to do with his abilities on the pitch. He’s still a great player and an appropriate captain for England.

Apparently Rio’s going to be the captain, which is fine, but didn’t he have 5-year (or was it 7 years?) affair with a flight attendant, while he was in a committed relationship with a woman who gave birth to his children? Rio is notorious for having loose morals, and he hosts WAG-free christmas parties with strippers and escorts mingling with players and accusing them of rape.

Bottom line: JT should still be England’s captain. Replacing him with Rio doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if it’s the extramarital adventures that have Capello and everyone else all pissing and moaning.
http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

Bottom line: JT should still be England’s captain. Replacing him with Rio doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if it’s the extramarital adventures that have Capello and everyone else all pissing and moaning.

Extramarital affairs aren’t the issue, I don’t think. It’s definitely diddling his teammates WAG, which in any country is not cool.
http://www.malawi.worldcupblog.org sscouser

alessio, “diddling his teammates WAG” is a lesser issue than having an extra-marital affair. Ask Woods.
Quini

Yeah, doing a teammate’s WAG absolutely creates no tension in the dressing room, neither does it represent a betrayal of a fellow teammate by a captain that is supposed to command respect by the entire squad.

/sarcasm

Seriously, Wendy. That’s like the first thing that we discussed when all of this started…
http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio

“diddling his teammates WAG” is a lesser issue than having an extra-marital affair. Ask Woods.

Ditto to what Quini said. Extra-marital affairs are bad for PR. “Diddling your teammates WAG” is bad for locker room cohesiveness and throws all sorts of questions about your leadership.

If it was another random woman, I don’t think there would be this debate.
Wendy

Eeeek sorry, big fail on my part, as i did totally just miss the point…but i mean, is wayne bridge even going to the world cup anyway? and wasn’t she his ex-WAG? ugh. okay. JT’s not captain anymore, end of story.
Mustafe (the real one)

YOU STOLE MY NAME MUSTAFA. DAMN YOU…
Bashar

I’m with alessio. How can his team-mates trust and respect him when they know he’s capable of sleeping with their wives/girlfriends.

That said, I’m surprised that Capello took this decision. But then again, maybe now Terry will fly under the radar.
Siva

was she wayne bridge’s ex ??
there is no need for such a decision.If she those two were still together,all this hoopla makes sense.
http://deleted Siva

@ Bashar.. everyone would do that if given the chance..These are all hot girls.

obviously the girl in question was comforted by terry over the break up with bridge and ,she was vulnerable and when the girl comes onto you you will falter…
sandrahn

much ado about nothing…I can tell you if this whole thing were happening in Italy, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Holland, this would hardly be a blip on the radar.
sandrahn

The whole “captain” thing in England is hysterical, neurotic, ridiculous — it’s such a HUGELY overhyped position. I don’t know any other country that goes on and on about a team’s captain they way they do in England.
Johnny

I’m not a Rio hater but seems odd that the armband was given to a player serving a four-match ban by the F.A. for violent conduct.
ish

rio: not very clean himself, the whole drug scandal seems forgotten

gerrard: didnt he freakin get into a bar fight and need to go to court, great model there.

rooney: cant control his temper and doesnt deserve it.

honestly the lot of them have pretty loose morals, i would be tempted to give it to beckham or barry but neither are shoe ins for a spot. lampard wont be accepted by many because of chelsea connections but he is probably the cleanest player who is a guaranteed starter under capello.

honestly terry should stay as captain solely because he is a good captain and organizes the defense very well.
Drabik

Its not just an ‘ex-girlfriend’. Its the mother of his 4 year old child.

@ish

Rio missed a drugs test. It’s only because he played for Manchester United that he was given an 8 month ban (Manchester City player had the same offense at about the same time, with almost no punishment). Maybe now he is England captain, the FA will go easy on him and reduce/remove bans like they did with Terry?

Rooney is controlling his temper more and more. Maybe a captaincy will help him. He certainly cares about the game more than anyone else.

As people have said, a captaincy doesnt mean as much in football as other sports. Andy Cole recently said that you can have many players on the pitch acting as captain – but only one can have the arm-band on. They will all be voicing the manager’s opinions anyway.

@Wendy

Wayne bridge is almost certainly going to the world cup. behind ashley cole, he is the best left back we have. He is coming back from injury this weekend i beleive.
http://profifaworldcup2010.blogspot.com/ FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP

I think that this could be one of the best things to happen to the English team… because since so much of the focus will be on John Terry, and since the entire focus of the media will remain on him (notice how on the FA press release, it doesn’t even bother to say who is the new captain), he will rise to the occasion, just like he did against Burnley, and likewise, with all the attention on him, it will allow Rooney and Lampard and Ashley Cole and whoever they stick in goal to play with no pressure on them….

http://profifaworldcup2010.blogspot.com/

I feel like this will be a good thing in the long run, and who knows? When Ferdinand goes down with injury in the group stages, and Gerrard tears his groin in the final, wouldn’t it be fitting to have them hand back the armband to “The Brave” after playing the best stretch of football in his career to lift the trophy over Germany?
ish

bridge will struggle to get into the WC10, warnock and baines are ahead of him in my eyes currently.
http://www.howardjames.co.uk Howard Forster

I think the right decision has been made to let Terry go, but who is Capello kidding if he thinks Rio Ferdinand is a good replacement.

He would of been better off giving the top slot to Barry or Rooney, they have real passion for the game in my opiniom.
Attila

Hye. Does anybody know if Terry has a personal blog? I would like to leave him a message… I’m not a Chelsea fan, but I do not agree with this massive attack on him… Keep it up, John!