Ferdinand and Park, please let's move on

Given all that went the week before it almost defied belief that QPR's Anton Ferdinand and captain Ji Sung Park refused to shake the hand of Chelsea captain John Terry before Saturday's game.

What happened to the football brotherhood following the findings of the Enquiry into the Hillsborough disaster of 1989? It lasted less than a few days.

Ferdinand and Park refused to move on and betrayed the continuing grudge against the - pronounced innocent, let's not forget - Terry.

While one migh have some understanding and empathy with Ferdinand, Park's connection is tenuous at best (I guess it must be that he played with Ferdinand's brother Rio at Manchester United before moving to QPR).

QPR boss Mark Hughes mooted the idea of doing away with the pre-match handshake between the teams. But does he suggest the same for the captains - as it was his captain Park who refused to shake Terry's hand before kick-off. What next: do away with any references to sportsmanship altogether? (I guess that might actually be more honest in the game these days.)

Is there no room for forgiveness in these hard hearts? And forgiving an innocent man, remember.

Can we move on?

Misplaced loyalty costs Fabio dear

So Fabio has gone!

The mistake the FA made when they appointed Fabio was thinking that putting a good manager in charge of the players would help create a great team.

But you can’t expect a chef to create a great meal with rotten ingredients.

And Fabio Capello couldn’t create a great team with overrated, overpaid and in the end, rotten players.

It is not surprising that the root cause of his downfall was a player who has caused and continues to cause ruffles and ructions wherever he goes. In his annoyance against the FA stripping John Terry of the England captaincy, Fabio Capello showed misplaced loyalty to a player whose very actions show little respect for the thoughts or feelings of anyone else. Capello would have been better off without him.

Whether England will be better off without Capello is open to question – and millions of words will be written in trying to answer it.

For now, it’s farewell to Fabio, but we’re still stuck with Terry.

Give the captaincy back to John Terry

The discussion about John Terry's captaincy of England has reared its head again recently.

When it first came up for discussion in February 2010, I commented on it. Here are some snippets:

"So should John Terry carry on as England captain?

Chelsea obviously see no problem with the situation as he has carried on as captain of the Blues.

Why should it be any different for England?

Some may say the job's so important and it's representing the nation and all that. Is it? Is that the real reason for all this debate? Or is this just a typical media storm in a tea cup, brought about because of the lifting of restrictions on reporting this story, and the "haven't-we-done-well-to-expose-him?" media frenzy that has followed?

Let's face it. The media (newspapers in particular) love to "get" someone, don't they? And the bigger they are, the better. Captain of England? Top score!

If Fabio Capello sacked Terry as captain (and he won't), who would he put in his place?

Who are the candidates?

Steven Gerrard (he of the nightclub fight accusations)

Wayne Rooney (he of the dubious onfield discipline)

Rio Ferdinand (will he be fit?)

etc.

The fact is that Capello chose John Terry as England captain because he is the best man for the job - football-wise. Does there need to be another reason"

The only thing I was wrong about was that Capello DID sack Terry as captain. He chose Rio Ferdinand as his replacement, but Ferdinand has figured very infrequently due to injury (as I expected).

Give the captaincy back to John Terry - it's the right thing to do, Fabio. 

Terry out for months

It seems that John Terry may be sidelined for months with a nerve problem, according to a BBC report.

This will come as a blow to Carlo Ancelotti after his team was so badly exposed right through its heart in the 3-0 loss to Sunderland on Sunday. Cut apart time and again by Danny Welbeck and Asamoah Gyan, centre backs Branislaw Ivanovic and Paulo Ferreira - both usually full-backs for the Blues - would undoubtedly be happy to move back to their regular slots, but with Terry out for so long, probably Ivanovic will be asked to partner Alex for the rest of the season.

The news about Terry follows up last week's disappointment that Frank Lampard will take longer to return than expected.

The injuries have taken some attention away from the sacking of Ray Wilkins as coach last week, and may be some of this disruption was, at least in part, responsible forn the poor showing on Sunday against the Mackems, who, however, should draw great strength from such a vibrant display.

Now placed sixth, Sunderland, with the lack of consistency of would-be contenders like Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, might secretly begin to have thoughts of European qualification. More displays like Sunday's would certainly reinforce that view.

Injured England players return for their clubs

With reference to my post on Friday wondering how many of the England players who cried out of last week's match against Montenegro, the answer is: THEY ALL PLAYED.

John Terry of Chelsea and Phil Jagielka of Everton played the full 90 minutes respectively against Aston Villa (0-0) and Liverpool (2-0), and Darren Bent played the whole game in a dour (as predicted) 0-0 draw for Sunderland at Blackburn Rovers. Finally, Aaron Lennon played most of the second half in Tottenham's 2-1 win at Fulham.

Now, I'm not saying there's any dishonesty or feigning of injury; just citing the facts. You can draw your own conclusions.

Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney, who did play the whole game for England in the 0-0 draw, did not play the full game for Manchester United in their 2-2 draw at home to West Brom, and it now appears that he wants to leave Manchester United. Speculation on the whys and wherefores of his reasoning will fill many column inches for days and weeks to come!

Will the injured English return to Premier League action?

It's back to Premier League action this weekend after the international break.

It will be interesting to see how many of the injured English players make recoveries to enable them to play for their clubs.

John Terry (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), Darren Bent (Sunderland) are examples.

League leaders Chelsea travel to Aston Villa for a Saturday 5.30 kick-off. Often a testing ground for the Blues, I full expect them to carry on their imperious form and take three points from Villa Park.

Everton take on Liverpool on Sunday at lunchtime, and rarely could the pair have both been placed so low - Everton are 17th, Liverpool 18th. A defeat for either, while not catastrophic, would be another downward step on a treacherous path.

Tottenham travel across London to visit draw specialists Fulham. Spurs haven't really built on last season's fourth place, and could do with a win at The Cottage. However, a draw remians the likeliest result.

Darren Bent's Sunderland play at Blackburn Rovers in the Monday night match. A dour draw looks entirely possible!

Why Terry should stay as England captain

 suppose, as it appears to be the hot topic of the moment, that I should join the debate about John Terry's captaincy of England.

He has crossed some sort of a line by having an affair with the girlfriend of a Chelsea team mate (Wayne Bridge, now at Manchester City). In doing so, of course, Terry has upset not only Bridge, but the balance of his own family - his wife and twins.

So should John Terry carry on as England captain?

Chelsea obviously see no problem wih the situation as he has carried on as captain of the Blues.

Why should it be any different for England?

Some may say the job's so important and it's representing the nation and all that. Is it? Is that the real reason for all this debate? Or is this just a typical media storm in a tea cup, brought about because of the lifting of restrictions on reporting this story, and the "haven't-we-done-well-to-expose-him?" media frenzy that has followed?

Let's face it. The media (newspapers in particular) love to "get" someone, don't they? And the bigger they are, the better. Captain of England? Top score!

If Fabio Capello sacked Terry as captain (and he won't), who would he put in his place?

Who are the candidates?

Steven Gerrard (he of the nightclub fight accusations)

Wayne Rooney (he of the dubious onfield discipline)

Rio Ferdinand (will he be fit?)

etc.

The fact is that Capello chose John Terry as England captain because he is the best man for the job - football-wise. Does there need to be another reason?