Sacked England skipper vows to fight back
Axed England football captain John Terry has spoken about losing the “ultimate honour” of leading his country.
The shamed Chelsea defender paid the price for his alleged relationship with French lingerie model Vanessa Perroncel as he was stripped of the skipper’s armband by England boss Fabio Capello.
The tough-talking Italian took just 12 minutes to dispatch the 29-year-old captain at a meeting at Wembley.
Terry told The Sun newspaper – which signed him up last year as a columnist – that he was “gutted” at being sacked.
“It hurts so much, but I will fight back,” he added.
Terry will have little time to dwell on his loss as his Chelsea side take on Arsenal in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the London derby on Sunday.
Perroncel, 33, looked stunned and mouthed, “Oh my God … he’s been dropped” as the news broke late on Friday afternoon.
The model had just announced she would not be selling her story and was said to be “very sad” on learning about Terry’s fate.
The Football Association has been desperate to avoid a crisis in the run-up to this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa.
Reports about Terry’s relationship with Ms Perroncel, the former partner of Terry’s fellow England star Wayne Bridge, had put pressure on Capello to act.
The initial reports, which came after a High Court gagging order taken out by Terry’s lawyers was lifted, were followed by further allegations.
Capello, who has a reputation as a disciplinarian, informed Terry he had been relieved of his captain’s armband after the Chelsea star drove to Wembley for a crunch meeting.
The player, who described the captaincy as the “ultimate honour” when he was first appointed in 2006, later vowed to continue to serve his country.
In a short statement he said: “I fully respect Fabio Capello’s decision. I will continue to give everything for England.”
Capello said he had come to the decision based on what was “best for all of the England squad”.
He added: “After much thought, I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry.
“As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour.
“However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is
best for all of the England squad.
“What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice. John Terry was notified first.
“When I chose John Terry as captain, I also selected a vice captain and also named a third choice. There is no reason to change this decision.”
The move means vice captain Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United will replace the Chelsea man, with Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard acting as his deputy.
Speaking on Ms Perroncel’s behalf, publicist Max Clifford said: “Vanessa would also like to add that she finds it very sad that John Terry has been dropped as England captain.”
In her statement Ms Perroncel said: “In recent days I have been the centre of a great deal of press speculation and comment.
“The details of my friendship with John and his family have been the subject of intense and wholly unfair and untrue media speculation.
“As Max has already said, much of the material in the press is inaccurate.
“I now find myself subject to other unsubstantiated and false claims which have appeared in the papers over the past few days. This has only added to the
pressure which my family and I have been under.
“The media has sought to pore over my private life and that of my family, which is very upsetting.”
Source: Sky News