Euro 2012: John Terry Should Be Included in England's Squad

John Terry should be picked for England's Euro 2012 team.  I feel like that’s all I have to say, but for the benefit of fairness I shall explain how I have arrived at this conclusion.

Firstly, I believe that excluding Terry from Euro 2012 because of another player's allegation would be setting a dangerous precedent that the FA would have to follow the next time another player is accused of a similar incident.

Serious as those allegations are, the law in this country still says you are innocent until proven guilty, and because Terry’s trial date has been set for after Euro 2012, we must assume he's innocent until the time comes when the verdict is passed.

It seems almost criminal in itself that the FA would stop its own yet to be proven guilty captain from playing in such an important competition.

The merits of whether or not Terry should be skipper are still open to debate, however.  After all, what kind of captain carries on with a teammate's missus?

Secondly, sport, and football in particular, has always been a massive part of English culture, however, the big white elephant in the room is yet to go away. 

We are still seeking, no, praying for a repeat of 1966. 

We need another trophy like Jordan needs her fake boobs, and it would be detrimental to the side to leave behind the captain and star player. 

Football and politics should be kept separate, at least for the 90 minutes it takes to complete a game. 

And while I’m not going to go all Sepp Blatter on the issue (racism can’t be settled by a post-match handshake), I’m suggesting that Rio Ferdinand, brother of alleged victim Anton—should he be selected alongside Terry in the heart of the England defence—put his differences aside and concentrate on not letting through any goals. 

Then, after the game, he can go back to hating Terry if he so wishes.

So, England, let’s take Terry, put him alongside Ferdinand in defence, and let them kick seven bells out of Holland’s defence on Feb. 29.