John Terry

[Gullscorer]

John Terry has said he is innocent of the charge of making a racist comment brought against him after a complaint by 'a member of the public'. The case has yet to be heard in court.

It was reported in December that Lord Ouseley, the chairman of anti-racism group Kick it Out, is in no doubt that the Football Association should act now and suspend John Terry from the England captaincy, but the FA said it cannot act until the criminal prosecution case against the defender has run its course. The FA has now changed its mind and taken the England captaincy away from Terry. I wonder what pressures were brought to bear on them by zealously fanatical pressure groups and politicians devoted to political correctness.

Fabio Capello now appears to be in trouble for publicly disagreeing with the FA. But I think I'm with Capello on this one. Surely it's for the manager to decide who is team captain, purely on a football basis. Terry is innocent until proven guilty in court. The FA seems to have jumped the gun for fear that someone else could be offended, for fear of criticism, weakly giving in to pressure groups and politicians.

What do you think?

[kingsgull]

mans a thug and seeing the video evidence he should drop his head in shame...give the armband to someone more worthy...steven gerrard....

[Alpine Joe]

Politicans should be told to keep well clear of sport. There was never any justification for the creation of a 'Minister for Sport' & the sooner it is abolished the better. Clearly the post has been used to allow politicians to get their influence into all aspects of sports in ever increasing ways.

That prize idiot & rent a quote Herman Ousley has been providing us with increasingly daft comments for as long as I can remember.

I don't know whether or not there is any truth in the claims regarding what John Terry is alledged to have said to Anton Ferdinand, but I would have found it much more understandable if it was claimed he'd said it to Ousley.

As regard the current mess, I would quite like to see Capello tell them where to stuff their politically correct doctrine & the 'bring the guilty bastard in & let's give him a fair trial' appraoch that the BBC & media in general are adopting towards Terry. My advice to Capello would be to stand aside & lets see Ousley, Trevor Phillips & their mates pick the England team.

[Southampton Gull]

mans a thug and seeing the video evidence he should drop his head in shame...give the armband to someone more worthy...steven gerrard....

The same Gerrard who viciously punched a man in the face at a nightclub and then denied it before being found guilty?

You've got Ferdinand who was banned for missing his doping tests, Terry the racist and Gerrard the thug, I'd drop all of them and never use them again. Until playing for your country becomes the ultimate honour again and falling foul of the law warrants a permanent ban these players will carry on doing what they like.

[ferrarilover]

Are we not rather missing the point that JT isn't among the best 11 English players anymore, so shouldn't be selected anyway?

Yes, he's innocent until proven guilty, but the weight of this case on his mind will surely not leave him in a position to captain the national side. He's been relieved of his duties to free up his capacity to focus on playing, not captaining. Probably not the worst decision ever and, since he is extremely likely to be found guilty anyway, maybe this move will help lessen the publicity he gets for it?

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

Ok Matt, playing Devils Advocate, who is better than he is right now?

[stevegull]

Terry is still a top player, no doubt in my mind about it. He is merely being percieved to have 'lost it' as he is now over 30. He should still be in the team for the Euros barring a sensational turn of form from one of the other contenders.

[Southampton Gull]

I can't stand the guy any more than anyone else but there aren't too many young central defenders knocking the door down to displace him.

[Gullscorer]

The main issue here is one of principle rather than personality. I am by no means a fan of John Terry, but whatever one thinks of him as a footballer or as a character, do we stand by him until a court finds him guilty, or should he be banned until he proves himself innocent? The principle is one of natural justice, like most principles not always easy to put into practice in the real world!

But there are other issues, to which Dave and Matt have already alluded:

First, to what extent should outside influences or events be allowed to determine anybody's capacity to do a job. If a player is injured in a road traffic accident the answer is easy: he is out of the team. If a player has marital problems or is involved in a court case, the solution becomes less clear cut. And who then decides? Should it not still be the manager? In this case the FA have made the decision and have given the impression that they have punished John Terry merely for being accused, in addition to undermining Fabio Capello's authority. If I were Capello, whatever the rights and wrongs of the FA's decision, I would feel very annoyed. All of which is hardly conducive to producing top performances from the England manager or his players.

Secondly, by what criteria should players be chosen for the national team and to captain the national team? For team members the answer is obvious. They are there because of their footballing skills and talent. Just as obviously, it requires additional qualities of leadership, intellect, and social skills, to fill the role of team captain. But there is another basic requirement that is often neglected. It is the quality of sportsmanship. Whoever selects a team captain having regard to this requirement cannot go far wrong. And it does not need the verdict of a court to make such a decision.

[Plymouth Gull]

In my opinion he should be dropped. This crop of players haven't exactly achieved what we expected of them - I think we should just bring in players like Smalling, Jones, Sturridge, Oxlade Chamberlain (possibly not yet but one for the future) and get them some international experience.

[AustrianAndyGull]

The same Gerrard who viciously punched a man in the face at a nightclub and then denied it before being found guilty?

You've got Ferdinand who was banned for missing his doping tests, Terry the racist and Gerrard the thug, I'd drop all of them and never use them again. Until playing for your country becomes the ultimate honour again and falling foul of the law warrants a permanent ban these players will carry on doing what they like.

Well said Dave. First of all IMO John Terry is sad excuse for a man, weak and has strange rigid shoulders. His hairstyle is also laughable and he talks like he should be working behind the bar at the Queen Vic in EastEnders. On top of that he is also a desperately poor footballer, as Matt said. He was good once but now he just plays like a lobotomized gibbon. I've seen gastropods move quicker over 30 yards than him and he has a turning circle like that of a Citroen Xsara Picasso at best, Titanic at worst. In short, Terry is not really good for anything anymore.

As for dropping the failures of past England teams than YES absolutely. Drop them all, Rooney, Cole, Ferdinand, Lampard, Gerrard included. Why rely on Rooney when the guy lets everybody down consitently in an England shirt. If you don't want to play for England Wayne then f**k off and give your place up to someone who does. He clearly doesn't want to play for England as every time he pulls on a white shirt he is absolutley shite!!!

From my perspective ( the Austrian one ) my country would come first and not my club and i would sacrifice any financial gain, any wrath of my club for demanding to play in even the most apparently meaningless of friendlies no matter how powerful they were or rich the club i played for were and i would make sure that myself and everyone around me gave our utmost every time we represented our country. Servicemen do it for relative peanuts so why can't we? And while i'm on the subject, players who have the choice of countries to play for and who select the best option to suit their footballing careers PISS ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You DO NOT choose which country you want to play for based on this, you choose the country because that country is in your blood, your heart and your soul. You can't say i'll play for Northern Ireland instead of England because i've got no chance of getting in the England team. We (Austria) had a player a few years ago, Andy Hunt the former WBA and Charlton striker who was talked about in terms of getting an England cap but nothing materialized. Then it emerged that he found out he had an Austrian Grandmother and wanted to find out if he qualified to play for Austria. At the time i was livid. I am English and have an Austrian Grandmother but I am Austrian in the blood, heart and soul, have been since aware of my heritage in 1990 and if i could not play for Austria i wouldn't go seeking the birth records to see if i had a relative who is a foreign national of another minor country! ( ok so Austria ARE a minor country - no jokes please! HAHA ). End of rant but needless to say that Mr Hunt didn't get anywhere near an Austrian squad and thank God.

[PlainmoorRoar]

not that im a tottenham fan but give it to Scott Parker!!

[ferrarilover]

Ok Matt, playing Devils Advocate, who is better than he is right now?

I'd never make a national manager Dave, I don't follow the top division closely enough to know, but it seems the lads at Newcastle are pretty good, that Danny Simpson looks fine, as do both the Taylors. I don't think it'll take a superstar to oust Terry (or Ferdinand, or Gerrard, or any of that old guard who have failed dismally for so long), simply because they really aren't all that good to begin with.
We haven't had a proper goalkeeper for years, David Seaman was the best I can remember, and he was hardly top notch, Rooney hasn't been at it properly since about 2004, Gerrard has always been very, very average, and Liverpool fans are constantly blinded to this by the fact that he's a local boy who loves his local team and pops up to score a 40 yard screamer every 4/5 weeks. They fail to notice that, for the 99.9% of the time that he isn't scoring Ballon D'Or contenders, he is completely anonymous. Paul Scholes and Patrick Viera, just two of the players who are at least 10 times as good as Gerrard, but who are constantly besmirched by having their names associated with his.
We haven't had anyone on the left wing EVER, end of.
Wayne Bridge was always our best left back, but got bumped for Ashley Cole, and now neither of them are any good but at least one of them will go.
Heskey, need I say more? Yet we continually overlook Darren Bent for the sake of the useless baboon (in an entirely non race related way, obviously). Why? Because we have an established set of names which should, on paper, be very good. Except they're not, they're shit and look as if they should be (name the film?).

What we do have, however (yes, grammar Nazis, I know), is the best U21 side on the planet. Tell me that we wouldn't do equally as well as the drab, disappointing Quarter Final exit to Germany (3-0, probably) which we will inevitably achieve, if we pick:
Victor Moses
Dan Gosling
Emmanuel Frimpong
Phil Jones
Kyle Walker
Jack Rodwell
Danny Rose
Connor Wickam
Danny Welbeck
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Adam Smith
Ben Amos

And a smattering of deserving senior pros. I also would take Joe Hart, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Darren Bent and some others. Perhaps we can tempt Paul Scholes out of international retirement?

The squad above won't win the Euros, they won't beat Spain and that is what they would have to do. But I tell you what, they certainly wouldn't do any worse than the current crop of no hopers. I often tell my children that they don't have to go to the Natural History Museum to see a dinosaur, they can simply tune in to any England first team match*.

*Dons flame proof suit*

Matt.

* Excellent quip shamelessly stolen and bastardised from a recent Prime Ministers Questions (no, I haven't anything better to do with my Wednesday lunchtimes, what of it?)

[Southampton Gull]

I'd love a team full of youngsters, groomed for future success, unfortunately the media frenzy that follows the England team simply won't allow it. Back to my question, there aren't any serious contenders to push Terry out.

[oldpedant]

The same Gerrard who viciously punched a man in the face at a nightclub and then denied it before being found guilty?

I thought Gerrard was found 'Not Guilty', as the jury (Liverpool supporters no doubt) accepted that it was self-defence. Even though the other guy didn't actually throw any punches, Gerrard thought he was going to be hit, so got his 'self-defence' in first!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 59767.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's still a thug though.