The decision by the FA to strip John Terry of the England captaincy for the second time is simply not going to be good enough for his nation at the Euro’s.
Terry will go down in history as one of the worst choices at England captain. He was initially stripped of the armband for having an affair with the then girlfriend of teammate Wayne Bridge. The move was taken then to ease team relations. The Chelsea skipper was re-instated by Fabio Capello after the World Cup, whilst Rio Ferdinand was injured. This was a controversial move and, without question, a wrong move.
Now Terry has had the armband removed whilst he is facing allegations of racism to QPR defender and brother of Rio, Anton Ferdinand. Terry’s court case will now not be heard until after Euro 2012, leading the FA to conclude that the team atmosphere would not be right with Terry as Captain.
However, many are now questioning whether Terry should be allowed to travel to the tournament as part of the squad at all. There are a number of black players in the squad, a few of whom have expressed concerns over Terry’s involvement in the summer.
There would be no inference of guilt on Terry, if he were excluded all together, just as there isn’t at the moment. It is clear though that there will be a circus surrounding Terry at the Euro’s which surely is not a good thing for England. For once it would be nice to have a crack at a major tournament without the backdrop of controversy and distractions. The only way for that to be achieved is surely to leave ‘toxic’ Terry away from the plane to the Euro’s.
There is also a very serious question mark over Terry’s form and fitness. The Chelsea skipper is 31 years old and you can tell that to look at him. He has become slow on the turn and anyone with a bit of pace can get the better of Terry. This must make him vulnerable purely on the basis of performance. There are a number of centre backs that can claim to have played better this year than the Chelsea man. Gary Cahill, Joleon Lescott, Rio Ferdinand, Chris Smalling, Phil Jagielka, Michael Dawson and Phil Jones are all players who will feel they have every right to be ahead of Terry in the pecking order.
The FA made a bold and brave decision yesterday. This leaves Fabio Capello in a very testing position however. He will surely be aware of the difficulty that including Terry in his squad could cause. He will also however be fully aware that reinstating Terry as skipper proved to be a mistake, but will not want to abandon his man so easily. It is important that Capello does not include Terry out of loyalty and takes fully into account the feelings of other members of his squad when naming his 23-man party. It is also important that Capello does not include Terry because of what he has done in the past. The facts are that Terry is a shadow of the defender he was and may not be one of the best five or six defenders in the country any more. Whichever way he chooses to go, Capello will face great scrutiny once again.
The search for a new skipper for the national side will begin imminently. The lading contender is the man who led England in the World Cup, Steven Gerrard. However the Liverpool captain has his own form and fitness issues. The other leading contenders could be Gareth Barry, although not guaranteed of his place, or Wayne Rooney, who is banned for the first two games of the tournament. This leaves a number of England supporters looking towards Scott Parker as the best candidate for the job. Parker has become a wonderful performer in the Premier League and would surely edge Barry in the central defensive midfield position. He is a man free from controversy and would be a strong figurehead for the England team. There are a number of contenders, but surely whoever the choice is, would have a more successful record in the post than John Terry.
