Get behind Roy Hodgson as the new England manager

Wilshere, Walker, Walcott? no problem

He mightn't have been your choice as England boss but are you right behind Roy? I am and here's why.

He was appointed by the FA without recourse to interview. The favourite Harry Redknapp didn't even get a look in. But we shouldn't be too surprised by Hodgson getting the nod. His appointment follows a distinctly conservative course plotted by the FA recently.

As the media were completing the coronation of David Dein as FA chairman, it was David Bernstein who was crowned behind the scenes too.

Known as quiet, efficient and rather businesslike, it doesn't take a huge leap to imagine Hodgson preferred to Redknapp in the corridors of power. The culture clash probably didn't even start there either. A quick phone call to Dan Levy in the Tottenham boardroom to check the millions in compensation required, might've made his mind up even in advance. 

Young Roy



Next phone call: West Bromwich Albion! Bernstein was very complimentary to them in the news conference.

But Hodgson's greatest credentials may lie within his consensus approach to management. He admitted his first job will be to get John Terry and Rio Ferdinand talking again after the two fell out over the racial abuse Terry's accused of shouting at Anton Ferdinand during Chelsea's game at QPR earlier this season.

He admitted to being great friends with Harry Redknapp, who graciously left voicemail of congratulations on Hodgson's mobile. Roy said he and Harry were cast as great rivals for now, but will resume a great friendship again soon.

It's these perceived qualities of so called lesser importance that my well yet lead to success at international level for the WBA boss.

Because what is being international manager anyway? It's nothing like being a club boss: he's not with his players everyday. Instead he steals a week with them before each international and a few weeks during tournaments. His plans for selection are ripped up during the rigours of a league season, and there's no such thing as canny dealings in the transfer market to strengthen a squad. Mind you, Jack Charlton did his best to persuade non Irishman to his cause (and succeeded).

Of his international and European credentials, Hodgson is second to none in experience. England will be his fourth international assignment. Throw in Inter twice, Blackburn and Liverpool (neither of which went that well) and he's managed the very best. We well remember the success of Fulham's Europa League season ending in final defeat to Atletico Madrid two years ago.



Rivals but friends, but rivals. Vanquished Harry

There's an element of good fortune in the timing of Hodgson's appointment too. He has just 40 days and 40 nights to make England ship shape. Like Roberto di Matteo's highly succesful tenure as Chelsea caretaker, I think he'll pay respect to the elder statesman who earned England qualification instead of opting for youth in some sort of fitful revolution. Promising phone calls to the leading characters in the squad will give him a clear view of their togetherness in advance.

It's easy for him to tell the gathered media that reaching the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 is a realistic target in a way that Fabio Capello couldn't possibly have in charge over four years. Hodgson's managed expectations just by arriving in time for the plane to Poland and Ukraine.

He's called for unity and only a foolish lobby wouldn't grant him that. Yes, probably like you I fancied Harry for the job, but I'm right behind Roy and I'm asking you to be too.

FA and Fabio fault lines were there from start

There was a kind of inevitability in Fabio Capello's England reign ending in tears off the pitch.

When as a player he scored for Italy against Bobby Moore's England at Wembley, who'd have thought it'd be the Italian and not our World Cup winning captain that would coach the team one day?

Ciao e Grazie. Lessons learned?

One can well imagine the John Le Mesurier-style FA mandarins goading the firebrand Fabio on points of principle to surprise us all with his resignation.

I met Fabio by invitation at Wembley about a year ago. I knew of his "my way or the highway" approach to management - but face-to-face, I was struck by his simplicity and with reference to the England job, his foreignness.

Here was a Latin taking on the FA, an Anglo-Saxon church of football - and expecting co-operation throughout.

Fabio talked simply on his humble beginnings in a small northern Italian village and his strong-minded journey through football in beating a career-threatening injury as a youngster.
When the FA appointed Capello in the wake of the Steve McClaren debacle, he was hired for his incredible trophy haul in Italy and Spain. But nothing was taken into account with reference to how, where and when he won it.

Because Capello managed mostly Latins in a southern European environment. The instinctive group mentality of that culture played well with his "do what I say" instructions. Furthermore, those players were on wages a fraction of the level of our boys.

(Adrian Bevington of Club Wembley can talk all he wants of recreating the Spain structure, but the FA will never ape the group strengths of community which Spain has - and we don't have in the same way.)

Cry God for Harry, England and St. George!

So Fabio's proud and confident inflexiblity was always going to be gobbled up by our individualistic club-focused millionaires.

His stinging quotes to Italpress after leaving the job show he was always a square peg in a round hole:

"They really insulted me and damaged my authority. What really hit me and forced me to take this decision was the fact the much-vaunted Anglo-Saxon sense of justice, as they are the first to claim that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

In Terry's case, they gravely offended me and damaged my authority at the head of the England side, effectively creating a problem for the squad. I have never tolerated certain crossing of lines, so it was easy for me to spot it and take my decision to leave."

 

We're best without him, I know. Let the coronation of Harry Redknapp be arranged and with his arrival, let the basics about football come to the fore.

 

There's too much apparatus and apparatchiks at the FA spoiling our broth, and it's gone on too long. Disband Club England, appoint 'Arry and this time, do it without Sir Clive Woodward!

 

Remember Greece at Euro 2004. Simples.

One-nil to the England!

England followed up a win over the world and European Champions on Saturday with a win by the same scoreline against Sweden.

Breaking a duck in beating the Swedes for the first time since 1968 is obviously a positive although again, the manner of victory shows we're lucky even to be fourth favourites to win Euro 2012. What does that say about the parlous state of French and Italian football at the moment?

England's autumnal era has everything to do with Fabio Capello's decision to step down at the end of next summer having given two years notice of his intentions. That, coupled with the lack of desire among our millionaire professionals to actually pull on the national shirt is a devastating double hit to our hopes.

The best that Fabio can do is to make young, hungry players the fulcrum of his squad and get Sergeant Stuart Pearce to motivate them for each game. To that end, Phil Jones, Jack Wilshere and Jack Rodwell could be so important.

England's win a contradiction in terms

It was England's first win over a reigning world champion since Argentina were humbled at Wembley in 1980. It also ended a run of three straight defeats against the Armada in which we'd not scored at all.

And yet it was probably the first demonstrative acknowledgement that we're simply no match for the likes of Germany, Holland and the Spanish to win Euro 2012.

Because England's win was 0% inspiration 100% perspiration. Not that tracking back and winning every ball isn't without merit - it is. But it's not enough in itself to win tournaments.

Scott Parker broke it up in midfield, Joleon Lescott was alert to everything and Glen Johnson marauded when called upon.

Friendlies are often a difficult monitor of progress. Apart from not knowing how seriously the opposition are taking it (and Spain may well have played with more urgency had it been competitive), the sheer amount of substitutions breaks up the drill and formations worked up by the starting eleven.

Then again we have strength in depth: Fabio Capello could have easily picked a quite plausible alternative team. Who knows where the inspiration might come from in the future? We have Jones, Rodwell, Wilshere, Welbeck and Walcott to invest our dreams in.

On a completely different level, Spain have their problems. They came into the game without a win in four and luck deserted them in that fashion. On this display, they hardly look worthy favourites to win in Poland and Ukraine.

So it's Sweden next at Wembley and another chance for England to win, build confidence and break a duck of incessant draws against the Scandinavians.

The skipper circus goes on!

Barry is a yawn, so is the saga over the captaincy

After the farcical second coronation of John Terry as England captain, we're now presented with the seventh recipient of the Fabio Capello armband - the utterly uninspirational, Gareth Barry.

The rotund elder statesman will lead out a team expected to show eight changes from the Euro 2012 qualifier in Wales, for the Wembley friendly with Ghana.

The Manchester City millionaire has the most caps of the player's left, ergo he's the skipper despite not being considered good enough for the eighteen-man squad for Cardiff just two days before.

All this announced amid the organised media glare of an England news conference as Fabio admitted he hadn't yet had that private discussion with Rio Ferdinand as to why he wasn't going to lead the team out for Ghana.

He won't need to now. The message has reached Alderley Edge loud and clear!

The hullabaloo over who's England skipper is unnecessary theatre and a total distraction from the real affairs of the team. It also makes Fabio look like a dithering lame duck, just lucky to be presiding over a bunch of meaningless friendlies and a schedule of complete mismatches to qualify for Euro 2012.



Still, it's reported that 20,000 fans at Wembley will be from Ghana, so at least there'll be carnival and colour brought to a game which Gareth Barry's leadership rather confirms as stale.

But perhaps the booing won't just be consigned to our eleven players. To add insult to lethargy, the FA have invited Sepp Blatter as their special guest, just months after he snubbed England's bid to host the World Cup.

Terry rewarded for treachery and disloyalty

Capello: pointless England manager

So John Terry's in from the cold and being made England skipper again. The zeitgeist proclaims he's been punished enough for sleeping with a teammate's ex and Fabio Capello, who once proclaimed Terry would never be his captain again - has performed a volte face.



All this because snubbed Terry had to stand and watch as the Captain's Armband was tossed between a clutch of other senior players during the 2-1 win in Denmark. Boo-hoo Terry, boo-hoo.

Now we have an unnecessary media cufuffle ahead of a key Euro 2012 game with Wales when the team was progressing well on the field.

 

John Terry: a total and utter guttersnipe

I suppose once it was decided that he would continue to figure in Capello's England set-up at all, you could hardly have him moping around like a disaffected Muttley. Terry's (bad) influence is too big for that. Lest we forget the treachery of the half-baked mutiny he tried to pull before the World Cup win over Slovenia, it seems his perceived on-field performance counts for more.



But if he was eventually going to return to the captaincy, why did Capello make such a song and dance about sacking him in the first place?

Capello's sponsorship credentials

The Captain's Armband is a bit of theatre anyway. The coronation of an alpha male among the pack, it's hardly key to the team's mechanic. It's taken on disproportionate importance for England since David Beckham became 'it', then talked and talked and talked about it in news conferences throughout his tenure.

It's an unnecessary distraction to England's preparations and Terry's the beneficiary of a weak England boss, who should've gone with him after the debacle in the summer.

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What did Capello learn from this inept England show?

England 1-2 France, Wembley.

As a paying supporter who goes to every international at Wembley, I'm so angry at this latest wreckage of an England show.

Lame duck Fabio Capello, who's already announced his retirement after EURO 2012, can have learned just one thing from picking the likes of Carroll, Henderson and Bothroyd.

England 1 France deux

Never pick them for England again.

Yes, yes, Andy Carroll is "buzzing" after his debut - and you can't fault his enthusiasm and application. But he's a player who became obsolete in 1987. We won't things pumping long balls upto a target man.

Arrivederla Capello?

Please go early, Capello. The Lakes must be beckoning. If being England manager is part cheerleader, part symbol - then Broken England needs some Redknapp medicine to convert inertia into momentum.

Bobby Gould once told me he "did the decent thing" and resigned the Welsh job after a 7-1 thrashing in Holland. He's a man of honour and self-respect. Capello's holding on for payday. He's got no reason to maintain his reputation by staying. He's announced his retirement - and he's got enough money. Go!

Fabio Bear's 2D view.

Not only did Capello select unviable players if we want to beat Germany, Italy and Spain, he's also got lazy: If Cardiff and Sunderland triers get a look in, why didn't Stewart Downing and Marc Albrighton?

Capello is Pudsey Bear. No spatial vision and with just one eye on the domestic game.

Last night's ineptitude was the clearest business case yet for a National Football Centre.

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Capello seems oblivious to how it works in England



Sid James with a wig

 Fabio Capello declares consternation at how the English press build him up to knock him down. After the comfortable 4-nil win over Bulgaria in England's first game of the Euro 2012 qualification campaign, Capello insists he will get on with the job of managing the team in the same way he's done all along.

The truth is Fabio, you've got to bend a bit to the way it works here, or you'll get into more trouble.

The only way the Italian can escape a huge media barrage - is to keep winning. I suppose the Euro 2012 campaign will keep the wolves from the door for the next couple of years, such is the comfort of the opposition we're pitted against. Unless of course, he endorses a product he shouldn't or gets up to some unnamed no good!

But Capello must learn to be more surefooted with English custom and the management of his players. What worked with provincial players at Roma certainly doesn't work with our pack of feral and insular millionaires from the Premier League.

The Capello Index was a huge cock-up and he should know better than to take on David Beckham. Telling Becks his career was over and offering him a testimonial was swiftly rejected by the former England skipper. It showed no sensitivity to the player's star quality and his near bodily commitment to the England cause.

Didn't Becks return from injury to steer Real Madrid to the Primera Liga after his Real boss Capello had written him off earlier in the season?

Now Capello will look suspect if he doesn't select Beckham when the LA Galaxy star does eventually return to full fitness.

Yes, a 4-nil win is good. We've come to see Capello knows how to manage us to tournaments, its when we get there we don't have a scooby.

But his thoughts on the English press show a lack of understanding of England, the culture and the job here and at 64, a stubborn steadfastness to values which don't belong here.

Fabio: on the salary you're on here, understand that you are fair game for the most vitriolic criticism! It's our team and you are a mere temporary custodian of it.

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English football pride restored



It's not all doom and gloom in English football, you know. There's still much to be proud of. Yes, English football leads the way in more than just overpaying foreign stars in our Premier League and continuing to tolerate the feral behaviour of our yob England stars.

Not Funny

Despite England's disaster show, we've an array of English representatives at the World Cup's business end. The biggest beneficiary of our failure to reach the Final is Howard Webb, the most famous son of Rotherham since The Chuckle Brothers.

 



Not Clever

He's been given the world's most prestigious job in upholding football's rules when Spain face Holland on Sunday. Webb joins Jack Taylor as an Englishman who refereed the World Cup Final. In Taylor's case, he was the man in the middle in 1974 as West Germany beat Holland.

And commercially, reports of England's demise are somewhat overstated as the FA announce three new sponsorship deals. Manager Fabio Capello presents England's new partners (pictured).

There's no truth in the rumour that Capello's command of English led to the deliberate misspelling of FUCK.

No fears Fab. There's always EURO 2012 to fail at too!

Surprisingly human looking eye

Meanwhile, it's been revealed that Paul The Octopus, the creature who can't stop correctly predicting the outcome of World Cup matches, is English too.

The eight-legged superstar hails from Weymouth in Dorset.

Rule Britannia!

England's problem lies beyond the manager's office

Football is full of simple truths and philosophies and as we contemplate yet more pain at the hands of the Germans, none could be more fitting than Sir Alex Ferguson's maxim, "Goals Change Games".

Had the referee correctly allowed Frank Lampard's chip over German 'keeper, Neuer, England would've gone in at half-time tied at two-all and Fabio Capello's team talk would've been about pushing for victory as opposed to continuing the fightback.

And of course, the game's shape would've been altogether different too: Germany would never have scored their goals on the break as they did, because England wouldn't have pushed up so much to leave themselves exposed at the back.

But all of that is to ignore the simple facts: our defending to concede the first two was awful, we were second best on the night and England were lamentable throughout the World Cup as a whole.

Fabio Capello's sent out conflicting messages as he comes to terms with why he failed to galvanise the squad so comprehensively. Firstly, he insisted he would not resign in the wake of our heaviest ever World Cup defeat.

But he's softened on that: now he says he'll put it out to the fans. If the mood is negative toward him in the media and on the terraces, I believe Fabio will walk with a few million compensation.

There was certainly a dressing room mutiny after the Algeria game. Voiced by John Terry at a spectacular news conference, he got his own back on Capello for dropping him as England captain.

While the Italian has all the experience in the world of building winning teams at the highest level, he's left wanting over tournament experience. He failed to keep England's squad motivated and focused in the sleepy dormitories of their Rustenburg lair.

As I mentioned previously, England can't win the World Cup while there's such a huge conflict of interests between the Premier League and the England team. The players are too well paid with their clubs - plus it's an all consuming relationship which means playing for England is at best a distraction and at worst a burden.

As my colleague Nigel Bidmead succinctly expressed it, "The Premier League is a great watch. The national side has been sacrificed at its altar".

So until that landscape is truly addressed, the England manager's job will continue to be a poisoned chalice and a graveyard to reputations.

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Capellocam v Slovenia: Fabio's Italian temperament on display

Proving that football really is an international language, this is a video of Fabio's 90 minutes from a Spanish website.

As we won one-nil, perhaps his passion did get communicated to his players, although watch the distance between him, his coaching staff and the players at full-time. Very telling indeed.

What a pity the Group turned out to be Far From E.A.S.Y!

Capellocam v Slovenia

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The FA threaten Fabio with the sack if England fail

Fabio Capello will step down as coach if England fail to qualify for the second stage of the World Cup. The Football Association's 'fears' over his future announced to the media, make it absolutely clear to Capello that failure's not an option.

It means power in the England camp has been dramatically transferred to the players for the vital final group game with Slovenia on Wednesday.

Will this group still play for the Italian?

Player power will force Capello into making a much earlier team announcement for Wednesday's game.

At a "crisis" meeting with the players after Friday's awful goalless draw with Algeria, Capello was slated by the squad for naming the starting line-up so close to kick-off.

It caused major tension inside the camp, voiced publicly by 'keeper David James, who only knew he was playing a couple of hours before the game's start. For the first time, dissention in the ranks went public.

The stakes couldn't be higher for both manager and players. A win and the 'crisis' is over and England will advance to the last sixteen knockout stages.

But failure to qualify and the Capello Project is done. The players will come home to a chorus of derision for under performance. Then that'll be forgotten come August as they don their club shirts and embark on another domestic season at home and in Europe. There'll be some low-level taunting from opposition fans as the only reminder of a cruel summer.

And as consternation grows among England fans as to why our campaign threatens to derail again, perhaps we don't have to look further than the struggle between club and country.

After all, why should these millionaires, heroes and leaders at their trophy-laden clubs, bother with such a poisoned chalice as playing for England? They and their families are the suffocating target of tabloid tales and painted as villains for their on-field exploits, rather than as heroes when playing for their clubs.

In this overly-commercialised footballing world, never has playing for England and giving all for your club represented such a large conflict of interest.

I tip England to scrape through against Slovenia, but for the reasons outlined here, we can't win the World Cup until the FA and the Premier League integrate their two clashing business interests more closely.

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AUDIO: Capello tight-lipped over team selection

Like Sir Alf Ramsey before him, England boss Fabio Capello keeps the nation and his players guessing about who'll figure in the starting line-up for tonight's game with Algeria in Cape Town.

Capello tight-lipped over team selection

It was a tactic that always kept Sir Alf's squad on their toes - and performing, and ensures that control remains very much in the manager's office (if they win, of course!)

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson, our mayor of London urges fans to master the vuvuzela with some stirring Churchillian words. Statesman or 'Kin State Of That Man? you decide!

And after another World Cup shock this afternoon provided by Serbia's 1-nil win over Germany, maybe England have less to worry about than first thought.

We will win World Cup without Walcott

Fancy making the squad at 16 without a first team appearance to his name, then missing out having hit a hattrick as a full international! Soccermongery reports on Fabio's Ins and Outs as he names our World Cup 23.

So Capello's left Theo and Darren Bent out of his squad for South Africa, with Gareth Barry recovering enough from injury to make the squad. Matthew Upson's got in despite Michael Dawson's excellent season and Tom Huddlestone got all excited ... in vain!

Stephen Warnock gets the nod ahead of Leighton Baines and Emile Heskey's inclusion gives every man under the age of 45 the hope he might still be invited to train with Capello's squad. You'd have got lofty prices at the bookies on Carragher and King getting called up - even a couple of months ago, but the pair of veterans have made it.

But in an astonishing about-face, it's Walcott, an untried teenager without a Gunners game to his name four years ago, who'll be watching the telly like you and me!

Now, as a Premier League and Champions League star, hitting a hattrick in Croatia, so laying the ghost of Wembley to rest, the Gunners winger is dumped in favour of Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Many will say on form, the Tottenham and Manchester City players are worthy of their places ahead of Walcott, dogged by injury and loss of form this season.

But for my money, Walcott is a special player capable of brilliance - and worth inclusion.

But I'm not England manager, that bloke from Italy is.... Forza Inghilterra!

Click here: Robocrouch dances off to South Africa.

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England's ordinary display is no indication of our World Cup prospects

England were far from brilliant in beating Mexico in their final Wembley warm-up before the World Cup Finals. But without Chelsea's "weary" Cup Final players (a game played nine days ago!) it wasn't a first-choice line-up either.

Still, Peter Crouch added to his impressive tally: 21 goals in 38 international appearances and Wayne Rooney came out unscathed as did the rest of the squad. It was one of Crouch's comedy goals which the referee generously allowed as he appeared to bundle it over the line with his arm.

It was good to see both Ledley King and Glen Johnson score. It's important we can rely on goals from all over the park; a need magnified by Rooney's diminishing England strike rate.

He's scored just once in his last seven having hit ten in the previous seven.

King's header disguised a rather below-par performance. He was frequently left standing by his Spurs teammate, Dos Santos in Mexico's attack. But Johnson's goal was a peach; his rising left-foot drive from outside the area was more than enough to earn him Man Of The Match when in fact no one really deserved it.

Even a West Ham player scored. Guillermo Franco took advantage of some sloppy England defending - followed by a most surreal celebration from the Mexican fans, delayed because of their viewing angle to the action at the other end of the stadium.

Two seconds later - uproaorious celebration. Good news travels fast!

Adam Johnson came off the bench for his full England debut. An old-fashioned dribbler, he looks set to be Fabio Capello's wildcard - and a substantial one at that. Jamie Carragher was comfortable if untested on his return to the fold as was Joe Hart, who caught everything with confidence. Opportunities seem to opening up for him at both club and country level. Milner joins Crouch and Baines on the plane and I'd pick Walcott too. Despite struggling with his form, he's a player capable of greatness. It's just all ahead of him!

But despite the slack passing, England had plenty in terms of invention and match fitness - and we're as ready as we're ever going to be to take on the rest of the world in South Africa.

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WORLD EXCLUSIVE! The tapes from the bugged England dressing room!

The FA are reviewing their security arrangements after it was revealed the dressing room at the team’s Grove hotel training HQ was bugged. Soccermongery’s got EXCLUSIVE access to the tapes. We reveal the astonishing aftermath of the decision to drop John Terry as skipper and replace him with Rio Ferdinand!

Also on Soccermongery: why FIFA's right to resist pressure to use video evidence and why Michael Owen's top level career is over.

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Michael Owen's top level of career is over

Michael Owen's cameo in the Carling Cup Final encapsulated his whole career in just 42 minutes. He scored a vital goal on the biggest stage, he took the chance in front of England coach Fabio Capello - and then pulled up with a hamstring injury and was withdrawn before half time.

It rules him out for the rest of the season so extinguishing any flickering hope he might make the squad for the World Cup Finals.

But with another year left on his contract at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson says Owen will be at United next season. He's praised the former England striker as sharp in training and good around the dressing room.

And Owen's "loved every minute" at United, scoring nine goals in all competitions despite only starting eleven times. Despite a catalogue of injuries the 30-year-old still knows where the goal is.

And true to his reputation for keeping the coolest head in the biggest cauldron, Owen's memorable strike in Fergietime against Manchester City together with his Wembley swansong  proved he's never lost it.

He says he's determined to return to peak physical condition for the start of next season - and he probably will. But that won't stop an old injury resurfacing. For a man who's hit 40 goals in 89 international appearances, his hamstring signals a miserable autumn to his career.

So he'll struggle through another season at United. A bit part player in a successful side. His role will be even further diminished as Fergie will surely raid the transfer market looking to bolster a thin looking frontline led by Rooney, Berbatov and the thoroughly unconvincing Diouf.

Even so, he'll still probably come off the bench to beat United's nearest title rival next season!

Owen's developing interests beyond football - particularly in horseracing. He seems at peace with himself. It's just a shame for the rest of us Owen fans that his physicality doesn't match his undoubted goalscoring talent.

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Terry's tears, tantrums and takeaways

In response to our previous article, Soccermongery's been handed some interesting background on John Terry: his near switch to Manchester City, antics with England and his remarkable rise to the top of the Stamford Bridge order.

From reliable sources who've asked not be named, we learn:

Football's hard man was in tears as Fabio Capello axed him as England skipper inside three minutes of the twelve-minute showdown.

Capello's big punishment is in keeping with his stringent England regime. So strict, Terry's ordered Chinese takeaways from outside the confines of the team's posh hotel!

On England duty at The Grove, Terry complained the Italian was feeding them with meal after meal of "rabbit food", so he phoned for Chinese for fourteen of the squad. The huge load was shuttled through a backdoor away from management view!

As far as his private life goes, the Vanessa Perroncel incident is the tip of the iceberg. Terry's well-known for back of the car trysts - but it's also claimed he had sex in a night club toilet with a girl on crutches.

Terry's persistent philandering has much to do with unhappiness in his marriage to Toni, described as "like a character from EastEnders" and "fifty times worse than Posh Spice"!

But behaviour in the bedroom seems akin to his reactions to the boardroom.

As Terry strung out transfer negotiations with Manchester City, Chelsea forced him to get rid of his agent of fifteen years in exchange for succumbing to his demands. Roman Abramovich matched the staggering offer from oil rich Eastlands. Aaron Lincoln brokered the deal under orders from Terry but was then unceremoniously dumped.

The transfer was negotiated during the close-season and the catalyst was the departure of Jose Mourinho from Stamford Bridge.

Terry loved Mourinho and hated Abramovich for sacking him. When The Special One left after an inauspicious Champions League draw against little Rosenborg, the Portugeezer told Terry his demise was down to a clash of egos. The quiet Russian billionaire couldn't live with Mourinho's raffish, high-profile demeanour. Roman wanted to be the Bridge Boss - and showed it.

Chelsea's captain was in pieces and wanted to leave. Scolari's dressing room was a mess, so Terry ordered Lincoln to find him a move away. Alarmed by how upset Terry was, Lincoln pleaded with Terry to think about it for a week, and if he still felt the same to let him know. Would he really want to give up the fans, the London scene and the legendary status he'd already earned at the club? A Chelsea man through and through, Lincoln didn't want to be the man who sold Terry - unless his client really wanted out.

City got wind and the new owners heard rumours of how unsettled he'd been. A salary of £250k a week with a £50m transfer tag was set in motion. Terry shook hands with the Sheikhs but Abramovich countered with a deal to match City's offer - on condition that he waved goodbye to his agent.

Terry had been on a week's holiday in the US and phoned Lincoln to let him know his services were no longer required. Lincoln was gutted. He'd been made to look like stupid with both the City owners and Chelsea.

Lincoln was more than just Terry's commercial man. He was also the ex-England captain's eyes and ears keeping him on the straight and narrow and out of the media glare - even handling Terry's family's misdemeanours. His relationship with Terry even survived Lincoln being blacklisted as an agent by the FA.

The loss of such a close confidante has led directly to Terry's downfall. Instead of Lincoln's guiding hand, Terry's now managed by two close friends who've failed to protect him from the pressures of being a top footballer.

Wayne Bridge's switch to City had nothing to do with his relationship breakdown with Vanessa Perroncel or Terry. He left Chelsea for footballing reasons knowing he was playing second fiddle to Ashley Cole. Bridge actually feels sorry Terry got involved with his ex-girlfriend. The relationship between Perroncel and the England left-back was beyond reconciliation long before the Terry dalliance became public.

Bridge was also represented by Lincoln in the past.

When Terry was 15, Alex Ferguson rejected him and Tottenham didn't fancy him either. Even as a Chelsea youngster, he was deemed to be "too small" but Lincoln fought for him.

Terry's Chelsea opportunity came unexpectedly over a fight between two teammates. We're told Dennis Wise decked Michael Duberry over the sacking of Ruud Gullit. When Wise assumed temporary control of the team, young Terry was suddenly thrust into the first team under Wise's orders. Duberry joined Leeds in weeks.

Terry's rise up the Chelsea tree was nearly ended when then Huddersfield boss Steve Bruce had a mere £750k offer ACCEPTED by Chelsea. Terry turned down the move.

Soccermongery has no angle but as a fan of truth. Terry's lucky in life and it seems his luck's far from run out.

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The Curious Case of John Terry

Not surprisingly, big reaction to this on my talkSPORT show the day this broke. Here's a take on the whole sorry affair.

BY JAMES-GUY JACOBS

Fabio Capello's proved once again that he's not one to shirk the big decisions. John Terry will go to the World Cup, but as a player - not as England's captain following "frank talks" with the national coach lasting just twelve minutes.

It appears opinion is divided into three classic camps. Camp one believes you can't have an adulterer in a such a famed, "role model" position. Camp two believes the decision should be made purely on footballing grounds and camp three couldn't give a monkeys.

In fact, there is another large camp which is clearly inhabited by the majority of journalists and a substantial number of males. This, for ease of reference, can be called the camp of The Flipping Envious.

This week, the television news repeatedly screened footage of Terry's mistress meeting Max Clifford. The boring and obvious context was that they were planning how to milk as much cash out of the situation as possible. This was based on the premise that the mistress could finally reveal - for the correct price, obviously - the "true side" of the story.

Oh do me a favour! What most men were thinking was a) how did Clifford successfully avoid looking at her breasts or dribbling down his shirt and b) what an incredibly lucky man John Terry was.

Not only does Terry earn £170,000 a week - a fact the media hammers into you repeatedly - but he is able to shag beauties like Vanessa Perroncel on the side. Oh what a horrible person he is, say men to their disapproving wives and girlfriends, while inside they think, can you imagine romping with that French lingerie bird twice a week over four months? Fantastic!

Meanwhile, John Terry, according to various anonymous sources (who probably don't exist) sincerely regrets his actions and any damage caused. Does he, indeed? Terry is probably sorry that he broke the proverbial eleventh commandment and got caught but other than that I doubt he's ashamed in the least.

He has solidified his image as a geezer and a cad that no woman can resist. Yes, he may lose the England captaincy, possibly even a sponsorship deal or two but Terry knows that provided he plays well on the football pitch all will be fine in Terry-world. Another scandal will come along soon enough and the the public memory is notoriously short.

People have completely forgotten that David Beckham, the darling of English football, was also once linked to numerous extra-marital activities. That didn't stop him posing in Armani boxers or damage his England career. Indeed, moving aside from football, the most admired man of the twentieth century (says Time Magazine) was Albert Einstein, a selfish philanderer.

According to the BBC, Terry had to endure a "torrid reception" from the Hull supporters when Chelsea played there on Monday. However, the gist of their catcalls was that men should keep their wives away from John Terry. What a compliment to his sexual prowess!

But perhaps the greatest clue as to what John Terry thinks lies in a photograph pubished three days ago by The Times. He was caught in training, laughing nonchalantly with not a care in the world. And he hasn't really. With his pay packet, he knows his wife won't divorce him, he remains a guaranteed weekly lottery winner and many guys admire him (openly or secretly) and are envious.

You see, John Terry also knows a secret. It's a man's world. But he's not the biggest animal in the jungle.

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England step up a gear against Croatia

England responded to the Wembley roar with an emphatic 5-1 win over poor Croatia.

Fabio Capello's charges qualify for next summer's World Cup Finals with a 100% record. Eight matches, eight wins. Unlike the last time we faced Croatia; the rainy, gloomy 3-2 reverse which knocked us out before EURO 2008, England played without fear.

The Croats were reduced to pass-and-move training monkeys. They had no response to the all-out fight, commitment and desire of a team which their coach Slaven Bilic had described before kick-off as "flawed" and "lacking Englishness".

Are you 'avin' a larf, sunshine?

What was so impressive was our organization and discipline. Every player knew his role and while some might criticise Capello for stifling flair, no one can argue with the growing sense of purpose and command England have these days.

We're not blessed with a huge pool of striking talent these days, which is why it's so important goals come from midfield. A brace each for Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, while Aaron Lennon was Man Of The Match.

But England's World Cup work in progress must extend to defence. We still have occasional lapses of concentration at the back. Conceding against both Slovenia and Croatia shows we could be well and truly punished by bigger and better teams.

But make no mistake, we qualify for South Africa with strength and vigour and with the hallmark of Capello running through the whole team: "you don't have to like me, you don't even have to respect me, you just need to do as I say!".

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