Terry Crosses Bridge

There are two things our nation loves - scandals and football. Any opportunity to combine the two is a match made in heaven for the tabloid media. I don't know of any other country that would publicly ruin their national football team's captain the way our's has...in a World Cup year! John Terry is now regarded as persona non grata, England's pariah, ex-skipper, and a serial adulterer. An affair that's just like a Footballer's Wives storyline is a dream come true for the media. But what about the dreams of every England football fan who want to see their country win the coveted Jules Rimet trophy?

Of course the media aren't going to wait until the World Cup is over because they have a job to do in selling their papers. After all, if they don't sell the story then another paper will. If I was Mr. Capello I would be livid right now. Not just with Terry's behaviour but with the media for throwing a spanner into his work. He did the right thing in sacking Terry as captain but he now has to deal with the dilemma of a potentially awkward and tense England camp should Terry and Bridge both make the squad for the tournament as expected. Can you imagine if it were to kick-off between the pair of them? The media would have a field day! What I find most mind-boggling though is that the News of the World broke the news of the affair in the first place and then its sister paper The Sun a week later gets exclusivity on an interview with John Terry about his reaction to being sacked...

We've been down this road before: Beckham's Rebecca Loos scandal came out before the Euro 2004 tournament. As soon as England do get knocked out though it will be the same tabloid media condemning their performances and wondering why we never win anything. The only way Terry can redeem himself now is to return from South Africa having played his part in helping England win the World Cup.

For the title of this piece I stuck to the idea of using a pun seeing as that's the headlines tabloids love to go with. It was either this title or Terry's Chucked an Orange. This clearly holds no relevance, hence why I went with the former. Who knows though, maybe to chuck an orange is an expression used in some places meaning the mother of all cock ups (no pun intended there either!)