John Terry's Word Cup Press Woes: Can We Focus on Sports, Please?

Every World Cup year, the press will try to dig something up that will upset the public.

This year, they have focused on John Terry—not a surprise, since he and Wayne Rooney, by common consensus, are the two must-haves at the World Cup if England are to stand a chance this year.

So this alleged "affair" comes out. This, after a hidden-camera investigation failed to scratch JT's reputation. JT never made a thing about it; he didn't really do anything wrong. He just got on with his football.

Can I just underscore how important the word "alleged" is?

Those who watched WWF/WWE in the last decade may remember a very small wrestler by the name of "Crash Holly." When the announcer announced his weight, it was always "allegedly weighing in at 500 pounds." The reason that the announcer said this was because he knew there was no truth in it.

Funny how the same word is being thrown around now. Journalists like Henry Winter from the paper that may as well be written by criminals, the Daily Telegraph , have had the article ready to write and be published the moment they were allowed to.

They will say, "Ah, but the fact that he got his lawyers to put the gagging order on them is surely a sign of guilt?" No. Come on, do you seriously believe everything you read? Think about their motives.

John Terry's motive: He wants to win the World Cup, pure and simple. Any footballer who discovered that a story like this was about to come out in the year leading up to the World Cup, true or not, would look to get a gagging order on the press so that he could concentrate on playing football to the best of his ability.

The newspaper's motives: Pure money and notoriety. On innumerable occasions, these people have made up lies upon lies to make a quick bit of money on papers, and all they have to do if they are proved wrong is to print a very small retraction. Even if they get sued, they will just sack the editor, who will inevitably end up as a judge on Britain's Got Talent . 

It makes commercial sense for them to lie. Especially in World Cup year, when everyone in England becomes interested in football. I worry that this means that readers of the OK! magazines of this world will suddenly become fans, and that the players will become their tabloid-targets.

My motives: The reason I write this is because I see the same thing happen, time and time again. Last WC it was Sven. We didn't even qualify for the Euros, so the press just demanded the scalp of McLaren early. This time they want the man who holds the England team together.

I want people to see this, and I want to show that those who call for JT's scalp are journalists, not football fans. They are more interested in money than they are in England's World Cup hopes.

Let's forget about his private life and at least give him a fair shot at winning the World Cup.