John Terry Loses Armband: Captaincy Debacle Ends as Media Scrutiny Triumphs

If this week's John Terry debacle is anything to go by, then the only person to come out of this with any respect or intelligence intact is Paul Scholes.

The Manchester United midfielder displayed this in August 2004 when he called time on his international career, citing the need to spend more time with his family. Scholes was indeed allowed to do just that this week, whilst Terry and his French lingerie model mistress Vanessa Perroncel were hounded by the media trying to uncover every last detail.

What is often not detailed about Scholes' retirement from the England national team was the fact that he had allegedly become tired of circus that surrounds the Three Lions.

It manifests itself at each game, at every press conference and unfortunately, during every scandal. Sven Goran Eriksson, Scholes' manager during his last few games for England, came to realise this when his personal affairs with Faria Alam were pasted on the front of newspapers for all to see.

This media circus sadly follows the England team everywhere. Willing to criticise and provide scruitny at every opportunity. To Fabio Capello's credit, he made the decision to remove the England captaincy from John Terry based on his own sound reasons.

The same cannot be said for Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe, who added fuel to the fire when he remarked that "On the field John Terry is a fantastic player and a good England captain, but to be the captain of England you have got to have wider responsibilities for the country, and clearly if these allegations are proven—and at the moment they are only allegations—then it does call into question his role as England captain." 

Sutcliffe is correct in one thing, John Terry is and was a great captain. He possesses great mental strength, as evidenced by his performance at Burnley last weekend, and uses his influence to rouse his teammates and cajole them when needed.

However, his ability to appear respectable and mature has dwindled in light of a laundry list of indiscretions that have served to undermine his integrity and ability to lead.

Conducting tours around Stamford Bridge for cash, flogging his Wembley Box to the highest bidder, parking his Bentley in a disabled bay, urinating in public, and the indiscretions at home have been grossly advertised by a media hungry for the latest scandal that they can use to point out how terribly unqualified Terry is as a role model.

However, what they don't realise is that the England captaincy is just an armband. It shouldn't carry the weight of expectation that the media and the rest of the country places on it. Those calling for Terry's head cited that England should be captained by someone who is a model citizen. But really, it should be expected of every England international.

The England players who don't have the armband, such as Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard are supposed to set good examples, even if their past indiscretions suggest otherwise. England's new captain, Rio Ferdinand, now carries this weight on his shoulders.

But in South Africa, when England kick off their quest for the Jules Rimet trophy, Rio will confidently complete his sole task: calling heads or tails at the centre circle...job done. Is it really necessary that we have all this fuss over a role that can be boiled down to this one simple act? No.

Unfortunately though, the media's insistence that JT lose the armband was based largely on a code of conduct that they expect of every England international. What they fail to comprehend is that their impetuous flustering over every misdemeanour is pointless, and only serves to divide the team and put undue pressure on players and their teammates.

As Terry, Rooney, Cole, and Rio have shown, players just can't behave like the saints that the media wants them to be, and creating a furore around them whenever they screw up serves very little purpose in shaping England into a model team that will win tournaments.

Scholes' reason for retiring was therefore in fact justified. Everyday, Scholesy avoids the media circus by staying home. One only need look at the coverage of John Terry leaving training to meet Capello to understand his reasoning.

Sky got out the chopper, following Terry's Range Rover en route whilst photographers camped out outside Chelsea's training ground and Capello's home. All of this was for an interview that lasted, according to media reports, for 12 measly minutes. The equivalent of playing just four songs on your iPod in time.

Hopefully when the dust settles and Terry's misdemeanours are forgotten, people will recognise what Capello and Scholes have astutely noticed: That it is better to ignore the media or stay at home if you want to avoid the spotlight. Something tells me Terry may just make note of this in the future.