I think the profile of John Terry and his position within football pretty much made this an easy decision, but the media pressure was way too big, but it's always the same. Look at when Ross/brand got suspended by the BBC, that happened a week earlier and nothing happened before the Daily Fail picked up on it and both were suspended. Now this is the same with the pressure put on by the media. I mean if this was a Chester City player or a Hartlepoole United player the media wouldn't have batted an eyelid. It's because it's John Terry.
Now the decision to sack him as the captain is neither here nor there when you consider he will still play for England and he will still be in the dressing room talking to the players and he still will do media engagements because he is John Terry and he is a leader. England have leaders all over that pitch, Terry is a leader, Ferdinand is a leader, Rooney is a leader, Gerrard is a leader, Beckham is a leader, so whoever is captain becomes nearly irrelevant when you consider that the leaders will always be there regardless of who has the armband.
On the point of footballers being role models. Well it's a vicious circle because while Paul Scholes has a squeaky clean image because he chooses to stay in with his family and not be seen falling out of clubs at 3am with girls on his arm, he isn't exciting enough to be considered because his face doesn't sell newspapers. I mean here's an example.
Here's two imaginary newspaper headlines
SCHOLES HELPS KIDS TO IMPROVE THEIR READING
and
GERRARD ARRESTED AT 3AM
The second one is the more likely one to be on the front page of the Mirror/Star/Sun whatever. Because that sells newspapers and that is what this is really about, the media obsession with the private lives of famous people.
