Only in England......

John George Terry, the man that has been stripped of the England captaincy twice, slept with his friend’s ex-girlfriend, and due to his alleged racist comments, saw the England manager resign yesterday. Joey Barton had his say on the matter, yes it is that mouthy scouser, but I actually thought he had a point. Should Terry still play for England? Was the FA right to strip him without going to trial? And why was this case handled differently to the one involving Luis Suarez.

If you could turn back time!

Let’s start with the shambles known to the world as the F.A. Whether it is Adam Crozier, David Davies, or Brian Barwick,there are always issues that could have been handled so much better. The World Cup bids, voting against Blatter, and the Rio Ferdinand drug ban. I just read about the Ferdinand case in Gary Neville’s autobiography and it seems like common sense is left at the door when it comes to England’s governing body. I believe the problem is that they have too many suits in there and not enough football people. They do have Trevor Brooking but he does not make the big decisions, he can have an input but the business minds are the one’s running our game. The FA is now in the headlines again for stripping John Terry, for the second time, of the captain’s armband. First of all he shouldn’t have been stripped the first time. but what really bothers me about this whole situation is the fact that the FA deemed him guilty without a trial. They have basically said that Mr. Terry is guilty until proven innocent and for such a high profile organization that is flat out wrong! The second part of this is why couldn’t the FA have dealt with Terry in the same way as they did with Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez? The Uruguayan was given his charges and punishments two weeks or so after the incident happened with Patrice Evra and it was over. The FA decided to hand over the case to police authorities, so what is the difference?  Terry has denied the charges, so that is when the FA investigates the incident and comes to a verdict. By handing the case over to the police, it has done nothing but create problems. The hearing is not till July now and Anton Ferdinand, the innocent man in all of this, has to suffer and deal with a situation that he clearly wants to put behind him.Then there was yesterday.  Fabio Capello blasted his former employer for stripping his captain of the armband and tendered his resignation, leaving England without a captain or manager four months before a major tournament. The FA has once again made us the laughing stock of the world.

Losing the armband
hurt Rio

We can blame the FA all we want, but is it me or does it seem that ever since John Terry first became the England skipper, everything he does becomes headline news? Do I think John Terry is a racist?No! I believe he made a mistake of a racist nature and should be punished for it. Too many black footballers have come out and stated that the Chelsea skipper is not a racist. We are in the era of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook and like any major incident; it was all over the web in a matter of minutes. I don’t know how his legal team is going to prove his innocence, the video evidence is pretty clear. So, why has he denied it? He should have just owned up to his mistake, state that it was a racist remark in the heat of battle, and take his punishment like a man. Yet again it just shows the arrogance of the man, calling a so called friend a liar. Should he play for England again? I believe if he is playing well enough then yes, he should play for his country. He shouldn’t be captain but Rio Ferdinand should still be in procession of it anyway in my opinion.

The man that lost
it twice!

To sum it all up, this situation has turned into a complete nightmare, especially for Anton Ferdinand who has done nothing wrong in all of this. Despite that fact, he has had to answer questions daily on this topic and has to endure being booed by certain fans that are on Terry’s side. The FA should have dealt with, and closed, the case months ago and as for Capello resigning, he has just used this as an excuse to run and return to club football.  So the question remains, where do we go from here? To be honest, I don’t really care. I am so sick of the England team and all the baggage that goes with it. If Harry Redknapp is offered the job, maybe we can have a good summer, but with the people in charge who knows…