A KNEE TOO FAR ?..

As the sporting world already knows, it was in the 37th minute of last night`s Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona, that Chelsea captain John Terry decided to plant his knee in the back of Barcelona`s Alexis Sanchez.   As a result, Terry was rightly sent off and his team then had to play for the remaining 50 minutes without JT - CAPTAIN  LEADER  LEGEND, as emblazoned on Chelsea`s home ground of Stamford Bridge.   

Somehow, thanks to a combination of Barcelona profligacy including missed penalty, post hit, goal disallowed for offside but also some heroic defending and gritty determination, Chelsea won through to the final where they will meet either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.   So, congratulations to Chelsea on their remarkable achievement but now they face the final without the services of four of their regular players including, of course, the dismissed captain, leader and legend.

Now, Mr. Terry has form, going as far back as September 2001, when he and three team mates were fined two weeks wages by Chelsea for an incident with American tourists at Heathrow airport bar in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York.   Two months later he was fined for parking his Bentley in a disabled parking bay.  In 2009 there was the investigation into allegations that Terry had taken money for a private tour of Chelsea`s training ground, subsequently dismissed by the club.

Then there was the super-injunction, subsequently lifted, concerning Terry`s affair with the then girlfriend of his former Chelsea and England team mate, Wayne Bridge, the upshot of which saw Terry being dropped from the England captaincy for a year.   More recently there have been the allegations of racial abuse directed towards Anton Ferdinand in a game against Queens Park Rangers late last year, which will come to trial in July, in advance of which Terry has entered a plea of not guilty.

Now it`s one thing to have a distinguished playing career with nearly 400 games for Chelsea and over 70 for England but my admittedly outdated Corinthian values suggest that the role of club captain and most certainly captain of the national team demand a certain degree of responsibility and an example to be set for others.   Perhaps Terry`s petulantly sly assault on Senor Sanchez last evening might finally encourage his club and country to look elsewhere for their inspiration and for the Stamford Bridge stadium director to come up with a new banner.   Maybe something like `JT - BULLY - THUG  -PILLOCK -` might fit the bill.