It will be interesting to see if we get similar fanfare in future to that which surrounded the John Terry/ Wayne Bridge saga every time the ex girlfriend of a premier league footballer consummates a new relationship. Will teammates point them out during goal celebrations for special homage from the fans on each occasion a relationship comes to an end? Maybe we could have a special mention in the programme notes if the goalkeeper has just had a row with his missus. What about a minute’s silence before kick off if the striker’s squeeze has refused him oral at any point in the preceeding month? Black armbands could be worn if she has placed an all out carnal embargo on the poor fella.
By buying into this and stuff like it the general public are proving that they are incapable of resisting having their priorities dictated to them by the editors of tabloid newspapers. It is becoming ever easier for these people to configure the public agenda in a fashion which is conducive to shifting millions of newspapers.
I see well written outraged e mails being sent in to football websites on this issue so it seems even rational, thoughtful people can be duped and not just tabloid reading fuckclumps as we would like to think.
Why can’t we resist? Do we subliminally want something like this to come along every so often? Do we feel the intrigue enhances the drama of the football or is the football so dull that we need the intrigue to make it palatable? It was inevitable that a saga such as this would present itself to provide the only real test that the current England manager will face, that of his patience and ability to see, hear and be surrounded by bullshit.
And how did the fabled Capello do on this test? Well by stripping John Terry of the captaincy he, I’m afraid to say, has failed miserably. He could have broken the cycle and clearly stated that the agenda of Fleet Street has nothing to do with the agenda of his football team. But he didn’t. By doing what he did he reinforced the notion, the myth that the two are inextricably linked thereby providing infinite scope for future episodes of a similar nature. He fed the beast, validating the editors and buttressing their ideas about their own omnipotence. He could have emasculated them by doing nothing, by simply leaving John Terry where he was. But he didn’t.
And this was the one true test we would like to have seen him pass because those who can tell a player where to stand on a football pitch are ten a penny, those who can tell a culture where to go are very rare indeed. I’m sure he thought he was making a stand for high standards when in fact all he has done is perpetuate low ones.
And it’s all the more disappointing because we all thought he was the one. The no nonsense Italian who could part this sea of slurry with a wave of his hand. How wrong we were. The best man to lead England in South Africa won’t be leading England in South Africa. Rio Ferdinand will. The best man will be cowering and compromised under the laser beam of a bloodthirsty media. A media emboldened and empowered by his own manager. He has not been undermined by the convoluted plotting of an arch enemy but by his own manager.
Capello could have done his bit to cut off the oxygen of outrage that this sickening cycle depends upon. Instead he has cranked open the valve full whack. He just might go on to win the World Cup which would be fine had he not in the process blown the chance to do something really worthwhile. He is the one who should have been stripped. If only because we expected so much more.
