Sensationalism costing John Terry and England
You’d think we would know what true disharmony resembles at this World Cup: a star striker being sent home, the captain fighting the fitness trainer, a coach lacking any form of public unity with his players and crashing out of the group stages. But France’s antics have been overshadowed, somehow, by a 14 minute press conference from former England captain John Terry.
All sorts of sensationalism followed the press conference: Terry single-handedly championed Joe Cole’s cause and undermined the manager, squad morale was at an all time low, and that Terry would usurp Capello and instigate changes to the team. In reality, though unusually candid and somewhat ill-advised (especially during such a tense and pressurised period for the team), the most telling thing he said was that he would like to see Cole included and a change of something on the pitch. Not really on par with some goings-on this week in South Africa. Capello objected to the public nature of Terry’s admission – with good reason – and was forced to interject in the media furore. No disciplinary action and no mention of it again. We seemed to be bracing ourselves for failure and this provided the perfect excuse.
A shocking performance needs reasons and Terry appeared, playing the role of captain, to offer quite an interesting set of answers. Had nothing been said then the regime would be charged as being too restrictive, conversely he was candid and the charges levelled were ones of brazen candour and mutiny. There isn’t a reasoned middle ground where the media is concerned. Having watched the whole press conference again, it really becomes an insignificant event now that the match has kicked off. And this highlights another dangerous facet of the contemporary media; events seem to come a distant second to the interpretation of events. Much like the Prime Ministerial debates earlier this year, the words of each leader mattered less than what people inferred from those words; the debate about the debate took precedent.
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And where England are concerned nothing can be ever understated. I think it’s not the lunacy of the press that has surprised Fabio Capello but more the weight that such lunacy holds with the players – Arsene Wenger has already commented on the detrimental nature of such highly pressurised encounters on attacking football. The only time anything can be addressed is on the pitch and, currently leading 1-0, John Terry’s press conference isn’t even close to mattering. As Capello said, “the score is the most important thing. The other things are only words.”