http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/feb/09/john-terry-fabio-capelloJust as those at the top of the English game were ripping their relationship to shreds, the man at the centre of the storm was conspicuous by his absence. John Terry is in Portugal, having been granted a few days off by Chelsea to nurse the knee he bruised playing for his club in a third-round FA Cup tie. He had departed for the Algarve benefiting from the outspoken backing of Fabio Capello, England manager; he will return bewildered with his principal champion cast from Wembley into the wilderness.
Matters have spiralled out of Terry's control since a member of the public emailed Hammersmith and Fulham police following Chelsea's defeat by Queens Park Rangers on 23 October. The defender's protestations of innocence have not spared him a date in court, with the trial to begin on 9 July. The implications of the ongoing legal process have now effectively cost an England manager — who had, perhaps ill-advisedly, pinned his colours to Terry — his job. Backing the centre-half's right to remain as captain, with the assumption that he was innocent until proved guilty, became the point of principle that broke Don Fabio.
This whole sorry saga had already accumulated too many victims. Anton Ferdinand – the subject of his alleged racially motivated public order offence but a player who neither heard the allegedly offensive language nor subsequently complained to the police – has received death threats, was sent a spent cartridge in the post and was taunted by Chelsea supporters when the two sides met again in the FA Cup.
Rio Ferdinand was booed at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, presumably for having the audacity to offer his younger brother a show of support some 24 hours previously in a television interview with the BBC. Terry has been roundly abused by rival supporters and, unfairly he would argue, lost the armband he cherishes so much. Capello has merely added his name to the list of victims.
Even as an unwitting catalyst Terry could never have envisaged the England manager either being as publicly outspoken as he was on Sunday evening or indeed resigning on Wednesday some four months before Euro 2012. Yet he may now wonder whether he could have warded off an embarrassment that has brought the national set-up to its knees. Much as he revelled in his role as captain, a more honourable course of action might have been to have stood down voluntarily, citing a desire to concentrate on proving his innocence in the months ahead.
It has been pointed out regularly over recent days that public figures, from teachers to politicians, have either resigned or been suspended pending the result of criminal charges. Surely he might have recognised that having the side captained by a player accused of racial abuse might tarnish the image of the whole, given the high-profile nature of the role? Had he been proactive and stepped aside, some amount of dignity might have been preserved. Capello, for his part, would certainly still be in position.
Yet it appears the defender may have considered things differently, possibly concerned that his resignation might tacitly imply guilt, and there is a logic to that argument as well. After all, he has protested his innocence since the immediate aftermath of the first derby at Loftus Road and, over recent weeks as the implications of the charges have become grimly clearer, has clung to a determined and utterly understandable desire to prove them unfounded.
He remains fiercely proud to be selected for his country and had no intention of making himself unavailable, either for the friendly against Holland later this month or for the tournament proper in Ukraine and Poland.
There may now be some private regret that the witness testimonies he hopes to deliver at his trial could not be accumulated more quickly – as the district judge hoped they would – and that the issue will now be unresolved until well into the summer. The setting of a start date eight days after the final of Euro 2012, pushed for by his legal counsel and backed up by a letter from the Chelsea chief executive, Ron Gourlay, had initially felt advantageous. That is no longer the case, either for defence or prosecution.
Now the focus will be on whether Capello's successor deems it appropriate to select Terry as a player for the finals. Harry Redknapp, the favourite to take over, has carried on his work while undergoing his own high-profile trial in recent weeks and would consider the centre-half a natural pick on form and playing reputation. Yet a new man might survey the potential divisions within the dressing room very differently from the departed Capello. Some level of tension was evident within the squad at the get-together in November for the friendlies against Spain and Sweden and it will have festered since. Given that Terry has now lost his main backer, he may justifiably wonder if the new head coach would prefer to avoid the issue altogether and tweak his selection policy accordingly.
It feels somewhat apt that Capello's tenure should have unravelled over Terry given that this has been a recurring theme throughout the Italian's spell with the national team. He was selected initially as captain after a vaguely farcical audition period, then stripped of the honour ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals when the Italian deemed allegations surrounding the centre-half's off-field conduct might divide the squad. Those allegations could be considered less serious than those now engulfing the 31-year-old, and over which Capello chose instead to offer his backing. Regardless, his reappointment a year ago was an indication of the esteem in which he was held as a natural born leader and a figure capable of inspiration. As it is, he has turned out to be the problem that simply refuses to go away.