Buzzin Football

john terry

John Terry’s latest headline-hogging activity has once again raised questions of the character of the man. His gesture of pointing to the captain’s armband following the relentless abuse from the Stoke City supporters was clearly provoked but far from advisable.

This whole soap opera following the personal problems between the Chelsea skipper and ex-teammate Wayne Bridge has been publicised enough, though what he didn’t seem to realise amidst the obvious joy of his goal celebration, was that it’s only going to make him a bigger target than before.

It’s true that Terry wasn’t exactly in his best form in the weeks either side of his break and the resultant crisis talks with his wife. In reality with the spotlight so firmly on him everything was magnified and vastly exaggerated, particularly when most of the media wanted him to fail, thus perpetuating the paper talk about and against him all the more.

He’s a professional athlete who is clearly one of the most focused and determined Premiership protagonists. Of course his mentality may have been affected a little, but it should never have resulted in the sensationalist and over-accelerated glorification or damnation by the press.

The armband-gesturing goal celebration by Terry was his first real reaction in anger or frustration to this whole scandal. When responding to Craig Bellamy’s comments: “I know what JT is like, everybody in football knows what he is like,” following the Man City defeat, Terry simply responded: “People in glass houses should not throw stones;” a reserved and coy reaction to what could’ve turned into another Gary Neville-Carlos Tevez style war of words (another media mountain out of a mole-hill).

Ray Wilkins, Chelsea’s assistant manager called for an end to the Terry abuse following the Stoke game, saying: “I would like to think the abuse would stop.”

In fact it’s actually a response like Terry’s that will fuel the opposition supporters’ desire to antagonize, because they know they’ll get a reaction out of him. This time it happened to inspire a goal, but it might not go so well for Terry and his Chelsea side in the next crucial few weeks as we enter the business end of things as crucial league, FA Cup and Champions league games approach.

As much as the Chelsea fans will love him all the more for his reaction against Stoke, he needs to try to hold on to the fact he, despite his dismissal as England captain, still has a huge leadership role to play in the England team in the World Cup.

Consequently the exhibitionist, arrogant and provocative reaction to Stoke’s supporters could yet have a negative effect on his career ambitions. If he can curb his future behaviour and keep his dignity in the face of impending adversity, he might just find his future will be much brighter and surely much less turbulent.