Should John Terry Keep the England Armband?

Everyone is missing the most important point here! England must travel to South Africa with the best possible team with the confidence to win the World Cup. So why are all the newspaper journalists trying to rock the boat before we set off in the summer? To be sure, if John Terry is guilty of the things that the newspapers are saying, then he should be punished and he will be, but for God’s sake let’s not punish all the people connected with our national team’s chances of winning the World Cup, by disrupting the sporting qualities that we have and brush aside this scandal. Afterall, the most of us are not perfect…are we?

Everyone is jumping on the out to get JT bandwagon. People need to realise he’s the best man for the job and that to disrupt the current balance in the squad this close to the world cup would be detrimental to Englands chances. Also how come there wasn’t this outcry when Beckham’s affair with Rebecca Loos came out? Is that not just as bad and he stayed on as captain. Also Tony Adams went to prison for drink driving. Is that not an offence that warrants not being captain more than sleeping with someone? Now I’m not saying what Terry did was right, far from it, I just believe it needs to be put into perspective.

I think the difference is that there is a footballing aspect to what Terry did, whereas the actions of Beckham and Adams didn’t have any effect on their teammates. But here you have a guy who fashions himself a leader of men betraying a teammate by having unprotected sex with his girlfriend, then arranging for an abortion and paying her hush money, all behind his teammate/friend’s back. And now you have Bridge allegedly telling friends he won’t play for England as long as Terry is on the team, so Terry’s actions have cost England’s national team a key component.

Not taking a position either way, just saying I do think that there’s a slightly different angle to Terry’s behavior.

I think Martin is right, and although he didn’t take a definitive stance, I strongly feel he should have the armband stripped. The captain is someone you should be able to trust on the team, and his actions effected other teammates. I feel as is people SHOULD lose respect for this man, and you can’t have a man captaining your team if you don’t respect him. He violated another teammate, and as captain, that is far worse than anything else he could have done

Had his indiscretion had no link to another member of the squad things may not be so bad for Terry, but since that’s not the case there is the trust issue as others have mentioned.

Capello is quite a disciplinarian of course so may make an example of Terry as far as the captaincy is concerned.
The other option is that Terry may make it easy on everyone by resigning the captaincy anyway, and saving others the trouble.

He and Bridge may well still be in the same squad, but if Terry voluntarily quits the captaincy it may be less of a problem than otherwise.

I just hope that England’s tabloid press don’t go all out in digging dirt on England’s squad and undermining then at every turn…they will be the first to complain if England balls it up in the summer.

I agree Geoff. Not to minimize the indiscretions of these individuals, but I could never really wrap my head around the motivation for what ‘News of the World’ and ‘The Sun’ continue to run. While they have every right to report, there is no coincidence to the timing of this story. Remember Sven being set up in that sting before the last WC? Or the organizing of the JT training ground sting? I now live in America and can’t imagine a comparable go at athletes before the Super Bowl. Quite the opposite, that is when all the motivational sappy stories are released about an athletes diabetic son etc…

Anyway, I hope JT finds a way to earn back the trust and faith of his teammates. As big a twat as he is off the field, there is little question of his efforts as Captain.

Ummm k. If my friend’s gf was that hot, I’d do the same thing that JT did.

No way dude, her face is too round and her ass is flat…that is her only good picture, it was taken from a good angle

A teammate slept with Platinis wife before the ‘82 World Cup. He was sent home the next day.

I think JT’s actions are despicable, he should have known better with the media over in Great Britain and if he gets canned, he has no one but himself to blame. He has a pattern of outrageous behaviour.

But the press obviously caused a big convulsion with Sven Erikkson 4 years ago, that was damaging and now we have this.

So, I agree with the notion of not monkeying with the England team if there is not much else here. Say learn your lesson and perhaps do something after the world cup. Is that possible?? You couldn’t can a captain if the team won it but save for that, maybe they could strip him of it then.

I think a certain “alleged” captain should be absolved of all blame.

As a man who clearly respects traditional values, he merely exercised the long-established “Droit de Seigneur” – loosely (and appropriately in this case) translated as “Lord of the Manor’s Right to Have his Way”.

As boss of his particular Manor, and given that he seems to score goals after scoring elsewhere, long may this Right continue!

Terry should not be stripped of his Captains arm band. He is a great player and the country should support him now. The media should be prevented from accessing a players personal life. This is such a shame that they are destroying a players confidence and reputation by publishing such scandals. He have seen what happened to the great Tiger Woods. Please line up behind Terry not to make him next in line with Woods.

Of course JT should no longer be captaino f England nor should he play for England. Wayne bridge has earned his right to play for England so if he and Wayne Bridge are on the same team together it would only make for a bad team spirt. JT has shown disloyalty to his wife, family and his friend so what loyalty would he have to his country, all of these people saying he should play should be thinking what if they were playing for England and John Terry was having sex with their wife would they want him as a team mate. Yes he is a good centre half but we have many others as good as him

The tabloids are a pain!
What a time to publish this story. Would only be worse if it had been published a month away from the WC.

I remember that everyone agreed that Terry was the right man for the job as England needed a confident and vocal captain, a true leader.

However, this will definetely affect his ability to be taken seriously by his team mates and at this point, his ability to carry out his duties as captain will depend on his personality traits and that of his colleagues.

If they can get past this before the start of the WC then Terry is most suitable for the job. If not, then it will be for the best that Rio or Gerrard get the armband instead.

Can’t believe that Fabio Cappello can be so influenced by the Media, they have built John Terry Up over hhis period of being Capitan of England, and a very good one, of the best we have had. You can count on us doing absolute rubbish from now on, expecially if he gives the Captain’s arm band to Rio Ferdinand!! I’m disgusted, Terry’s private life is just that, it does not affect his football skills.

Well Fabio has made tough decision but I beleive it is for the best in the long term. We need a stable team environment if we are going to win in south africa.

Don’t waste your money on betting on an England win in South Africa, without John Terry at the vanguard.

Capello has showed the strength that one expects from an Italian, when put under pressure. Leadership is what is needed at the juncture; we do not need a Gordon Brown pretender running our England team.