I’m Your Captain, I’m Your Captain/ Although I’m Feeling Mighty Sick.

photo credit: Hello, I am Bruce

Much like the Grand Funk Railroad song states England national team defender John Terry is feeling mighty sick.  His recent allegations of womanizing, including with a teammate’s girlfriend, has become a pink elephant in the room for England’s national team hopes at taking home the World Cup.  I am not saying England can’t get it done this summer (they do have a great draw), but this recent negative media backlash against captain and Chelsea man John Terry will certainly not help matters much. 

I refer to it as a “pink elephant” because you know that whenever they show the two men this summer (Wayne Bridge and Terry should both be on the team despite this riff and Bridge’s refusal), this negative story will always be on the tip of every announcer’s tongue.  It might not matter.  Italy won the Cup after all the negative media stories involving the match fixing scandal that unfolded earlier that season, so in comparison this is a much less serious crime.  But this is a squad that coach Fabio Capello has claimed needs to steer clear of the media attenton if they want to win it all.  In fact the manager has already claimed that he wants the player’s wives staying in different hotels then their hubbies due to the excessive media attention that the WAGS bring with them.  (and apparently its a good thing he decided that too Mr. Terry) 

But regardless of the media beating Terry is going to take for the stupidity of his personal life (and he does deserve it), there isn’t much doubt that he will still anchor that defense.  He is the best English defender and he did win the UEFA Champions League honor for the position last year.  Terry will be a critical factor even if he is not the captain regardless of titles. 

And after his most recent transgressions should Terry even be considered for such an honor?

England is a club that has a long list of stars (including former captain David Beckham) and right now I think many of them are more worthy of the yellow arm band.  Terry has proven in the past that he is not the most diplomatic person (he did drunkingly offend a bunch of American tourists the day after 9/11) and being the captain of the national team is a duty that far surpasses any regular club responsibilities.  There is no doubt that Terry will be a critical component to England’s success this summer, but he should not be the face of the team for awhile. 

Nobody likes a mutiny, but sometimes it’s necessary to save a sinking ship.  And England certainly isn’t sinking yet, but if they stumble out of the gate then it is always things like this that begin to get the finger pointed at it (even if it isn’t fair).   Terry’s allegations are not unfounded either.  The man has had an unruly  reputation for womanizing, gambling, and drinking in the past and these things are all fine if you are single and it isn’t affecting the other players on your team.  In this case Tiger (oops I meant Terry) has proven to his mates that he is not only a bad person, but he is also not a good captain either.

 Being the captain of a World Cup squad is much different then any club honor in any league.  You are the face of a nation and expected to appropriately represent that nation.  John Terry has embarrassed his team and his country with his off-field actions and he has proven to be unworthy of the title captain.