Sunday 31 January 2010

A Bridge too far for Terry. But he doesn't seem to think so.


SO the full, damning truth is out. England captain John Terry - scorer of a superb winner for Chelsea against Burnley last night - didn't just have an affair with his best mate's partner, he made her pregnant and paid for the abortion, as I revealed here on Friday.
His former Stamford Bridge team-mate Wayne Bridge, who moved to Manchester City last year, apparently only found out last weekend when Terry and his lawyers tried to get an injunction against the News of the World printing the story. He must have been reading the wrong websites. Now Bridge apparently wants to end his 36-match international career, four months before the 23-man World Cup squad for South Africa is named.
And that's why this tawdry tale is a little bit more important than the other affairs Terry is accused of - one of them actually took place in Bridge's house, just down the road from the Terrys in leafy Surrey. He's the Tiger Woods of football, is big John Terry.
This morning Vanessa, who has hired publicist Max Clifford to maximise her earnings potential from this story, is quoted as saying: "Wayne rang me last weekend and started shouting at me and accusing me of having an affair. It was terrible. He was saying horrible things.
"Wayne was convinced I had been cheating on him because the court action had been taken. It was an agonising call and he was furious."
Sure, Terry's mother and mother-in-law were accused of shoplifting together at Marks & Spencer and the News of the World had pictures of his father apparently trading dodgy stuff last year.
But none of that affected his position as England captain. This time, with an England squad team-mate involved in his shenanigans, what does Fabio Capello, the Generalissimo, do now?
We all know Terry is the best centre-back in England. And a superb leader. He proved again last night all this has little affect on his actual performances on the field. He chose Turf Moor to score his second Premier League goal of the season, and modestly refused to celebrate when he'd broken Burnley's hearts, much as he has Bridge's.
Big deal. But read the full story in the News of the World today and you'll see what a rat the man is. Sneaking around since before his Blenheim Palace marriage to Toni Poole, mother of his three-year-old twins, flirting and eventually bedding the undeniably more attractive Vanessa Perroncel (see News of the World picture above, on her mobile phone yesterday, I'm starting to dislike the woman).
Look, there are hundreds of married men who get themselves in a mess like Terry. But he does it again and again. And the man is an icon, a trend-setter, a role model. He presents himself as the perfect father of Georgie John and Summer Rose, even won Father of the Year last year.
But here is is, yet again, letting the missus down after promising her before the big magazine-sponsored nuptials that he would not do it again.
But he did. And with the mother of his pal's child. Toni's best mate Vanessa. Apparently they agreed to the abortion last year and afterwards he gave her £20,000 to "cheer her up". He had to leave an England training camp early to be at her bedside for the operation, which was delayed until he got there. According to a source, he reckons the whole thing 'brought them closer together'.
It's all there in the News of the World today. Bridge and Perroncel, at 33 four years older than the £130,000-a-week Terry, split in December. And neither Wayne nor Toni knew anything other than the fact their partners flirted a lot, and had done for years.
It's sad, it pathetic and it's deceitful. If it hadn't been for an open-minded judge on Friday, all this would remain the stuff of internet blogs, the subject of continual rumour and gossip.
But now it's out in the open. The papers are full of it. And Terry can't possibly carry on as our nation's footballing figurehead. Do we really want a man like that lifting the World Cup on July 11 at Soccer City, Johannesburg.
Well, yes, say a lot of football fans after 43 years of hurt. Doesn't matter who lifts that bloody World Cup as long as it's England. And Bobby Moore, the last man to lift it, was no angel.
Capello and the FA are staying quiet on all this for now. But on February 27, Bridge's City and Terry's Chelsea go head to head. Four days later England play Egypt in a World Cup warm-up. That's crunch time. That's when we find out who will lead England in South Africa.
The bookies are saying it won't be Trry. I suspect they're right. But what do you, the fans think? Feel free to comment or email. We need to know. Me? I'd sling him out tomorrow. There are more important things than football. Ask Wayne Bridge.

4 comments:

  1. I am following this story as best I can from across the "pond". The UK newspapers are rehashing the same story, and the radio stations that I listen to using my iTouch and 'Pocket Tunes' application are all calling for comments .....
    As an ex-SA now living in Chicago (17 years), I feel that I am in a position to comment -- so here goes.

    American society (or is it culture) is so different to what I experienced either living in SA or from my extensive business travels to Europe -- I was horrified to live through the Bill Clinton (Lewinsky) scandal, but asking my US friends and work associates for an opinion, they all agreed that he (Bill) was doing a great job as President, so what the hell, keep him in office !!

    I then was educated that White House scandals are nothing new going all the way back to Eisenhower !! So, Bill survived, his marriage survived, and life continued. Now of course, there were millions who disagreed with that situation, but nevertheless the next 'big story' knocked Bill off the front pages.

    Fast forward to Tiger Woods -- squeaky clean, builds an empire of followers, revives the game of golf amongst youngsters and falls off the wagon -- and has now disappeared to someplace unknown. Yes, he has lost some sponsors, but the big ones are in a "holding pattern" (Nike and Gillette). He is way off the front page, what with Haiti, Obama's Health Plan, the lost Senate seat in MA etc .... and you know what, the PGA cannot wait for him to return and life will go on. He will be back, he will (somehow) tolerate the verbal insults he will get on the course, but he will let his clubs do that talking !! Personally I do not like him, never have since he did not go to the funeral of Payne Stewart -- excusing himself based on the fact that he needed to practice for the tournament that particular week. So I root against him always (especially when Ernie or Retief are in contention).

    So, the point to make is that let Terry sort his life out himself -- his wife will divorce him no doubt, and life goes on. He has ruined his marriage and his friendship with the other bloke. But he is still a great player, he is still a great leader and still a great captain -- do we honestly believe that all his teammates are squeaky clean ? They want to win, and England have the best chance (since 1966) to win it -- let's separate private from public, don the white shirts with three lions and march into SA to take it all !

    So back to the 'culture' thing -- maybe the 'tin tanks' have something right whether you and I disagree !!

    Cheers and regards

    Joel

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  2. Shocking to hear. if he were my countries captain, i would want him to stand down. Captaincy goes beyond the field of play. He has failed in his responsibility and must be prepared to take a cut. No one is dropping him from the team; but is there no accountability?

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  3. Jeremy :

    The "modern world of morality" dictates that one can survive indiscretions by separating "private vs public". As much as you and I disagree, he is still a great Captain, still a great player, and still contributes to a great team, that for once, has a good crack at winning it all !! What he does in his private time and in her bedroom, kinda is none of our business. His family history is not great either (Mom shoplifts and Dad deals in Cocaine .... wonderful morals all round) !!

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  4. Most people are coming around to the view Terry should stay in place, the other captaincy contenders are hardly squeaky clean (Gerrard's innocent elbow, Rooney's elderly fling, Lampard's split with Elen Rives) and the News of the World will simply find something mucky if any of them are appointed. Everyone here is waiting to see who Vanessa names as her second star lover... for a reasonable fee on Sunday probably...

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