England Captain Betting: Terry cannot Bridge troubled waters

Football Food For Thought / Dan Fitch / 02 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

So unpopular that even Gordon Brown could beat him in a popularity contest.

"This is a man who was mocking grieving Americans so soon after the attack on the Twin Towers, that George Bush hadn’t even had the time to realise that he could now invade Iraq."

John Terry has got himself into a bit of bother and like Wayne Bridge, Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch is in no mood to forgive him.

My wife is due to give birth later this week. Like many expectant fathers, I am especially nervous right now. Obviously I'm praying that my child will be healthy, but just as importantly, I'm really hoping that John Terry doesn't turn out to be the real dad.

This is the level of panic that the philandering England captain has created. All over the country new fathers will be peering into cots and analysing their supposed offspring for signs of reptilian facial features.

In case you've been in a coma over the weekend, I'm referring to the news that John Terry has been playing away from home with the ex-girlfriend of his former Chelsea colleague Wayne Bridge and managed to get her pregnant, before paying for an abortion.

This has created a big problem, as it's a World Cup year and rather understandably, Bridge isn't all that enamoured by the idea of spending the entire summer in the company of the bloke who's been bulldozing the mother of his child.

Bridge is apparently adamant that he doesn't want to be involved with England again and this had lead to calls for Terry to be stripped of his captaincy.

To be honest, I'm not sure why the clamours are not for Terry to be dumped by England entirely. Even if Terry is no long captain, Bridge is not going to want to be in the same squad as him.

Terry is the more important player to England's World Cup hopes and Bridge is not even a certainty to make the squad, but why should the left back be forced to miss out on his dream, just because 'JT' is a complete tosser?

I would imagine though, that pragmatism will mean that Terry will go to the World Cup, while Bridge will be sat at home.

It's a bitter pill for Bridge, but he has responded with dignity, refusing to talk to the press and citing that his priority is the wellbeing of his son.

He might though, need to have a word with his Manchester City mates, who were pictured wearing 'Team Bridge' shirts against Portsmouth. I'm sure their intentions were good, but Bridge doesn't need extra publicity right now.

Betfair have launched a market on who will be skipper in England's opening game against the USA. Terry is the favourite at [2.22], with Rooney at [3.05], Gerrard at [5.4], Ferdinand at [7.4] and Lampard at [13.5].

It's a headache for Capello, but what did he expect when he made Terry captain? He was always an accident waiting to happen.

This is a man who was mocking grieving Americans so soon after the attack on the Twin Towers, that George Bush hadn't even had the time to realise that he could now invade Iraq.

In 2002 he was arrested after a nigh club fracas, which saw him temporarily banned from representing England and if you've ever wondered what that sending off against Tottenham was about, just Google 'John Terry Ledley King'.

Ultimately though, this is not anything to do with Terry being a poor role model. If England barred every player who had cheated on their wife or girlfriend, then we'd struggle to field a team in the World Cup.

This is about betraying a team-mate and when you do that, you can't expect people to look up to you as a captain, or respect you as a player.

If you still think that Terry should play in the World Cup, then ask yourself this. If he missed in a penalty shoot out and started crying, would you be able to stop yourself from laughing at him?

I'm betting that it wouldn't just be me and Wayne Bridge who'd be in hysterics.