Race row costs Terry England captaincy
Determined to prove his innocence after allegations he racially abused Anton Ferdinand during the West London derby between QPR and Chelsea in the autumn, John Terry had a not guilty plea entered in the courts. The machinery of justice remains a slow one though as the date set for his trial means the matter will not be heard until after Euro 2012.
Off the back of this the FA, seemingly without consultation with Three Lions manager Fabio Capello, put the question of whether or not to strip the centre back of the national armband to its board. The hierarchy voted in favour of removing Terry from the captaincy, the second time he has had it taken from him in his career.
Are the FA pre-judging the outcome of the case? English law rests on the keystone principle that a defender is innocent until proven guilty. It would seem Terry has lost the right to skipper his country because of the potential embarrassment he could cause the sport. The area of racism has become a highly sensitive one again in no small part down to the claims made by Anton Ferdinand against him.
All this begs the question who will captain the Three Lions at Euro 2012? Steven Gerrard appears the obvious choice. For more on this, see my article on the candidates for wearing the England armband.
Deadline day
This year’s final hours of the winter window may have lacked the big money moves of twelve months ago, but the total transfer activity still exceeded £50 million for the month as a whole. QPR, battling to stay in the Premier League after fifteen years outside the top flight, were the busiest club in the market.
Mark Hughes added a new strike partnership to the ranks at Loftus Road, drafting in former Liverpool and Sunderland attacker Djibril Cisse along with Fulham frontman Bobby Zamora, splashing out £8-£10 million in the process. The Hoops strengthened their defence earlier in the window and much of former boss Neil Warnock’s old guard now face a fight for first-team places.
Mid-table West Bromwich Albion were also dark horses, making late buys in Liam Ridgewell and Keith Andrews whilst fringe players were loaned out. There were also comings and goings at Tottenham Hotspur and Everton. Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko both departed White Hart Lane in search of first-team football ahead of their respective countries appearing at Euro 2012.
Harry Redknapp replaced the Russian striker with Louis Saha from Goodison Park and snapped up veteran centre back Ryan Nelsen on a free following his release from Blackburn. David Moyes had earlier moved for SPL top scorer Nikica Jelavic, taking him from Rangers for £5.5 million. That transfer was funded by the departure of winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.
Part of the Saha to Spurs deal saw Steven Pienaar return to Merseyside on loan. Meanwhile, Wayne Bridge ended his exodus at Manchester City by securing a loan spell with Sunderland joining ex-Liverpool centre back Sotirios Kyrgiakos at the Stadium of Light. In contrast Carlos Tevez remains marooned at the Etihad despite eleventh hour attempts by AC Milan to revive a dream switch for the Argentine.
David Pizarro was brought in by Roberto Mancini on loan from Roma. The Italian has brought an experienced player to bolster City he has worked with before when they were both at Inter Milan. Martin Jol meanwhile has brought in Stuttgart striker Pavel Pogrebynak to fill the void at Fulham caused by Zamora’s exit.
Relegation-threatened Blackburn and Bolton had differing deadline days. Steve Kean signed full back Bradley Orr from QPR as Michel Salgado is embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with the club. Rovers also kept hold of want-away defender Chris Samba, though he remains frozen out. Owen Coyle added options in the final third across Lancashire, swooping late for talented Watford striker Marvin Sordell and loaning youngster Ryo Miyaichi from Arsenal.
Midweek matches see City’s lead lost
Defending champions Manchester United drew level on points with their neighbours at the Premier League summit after the Red Devils defeated Stoke whilst Mancini’s men slumped to defeat at Everton.
Chelsea lost further ground, needing a late own goal to take a point from Swansea and Spurs cruised past Wigan to keep themselves in with an outside chance. Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle are closing in on Andre Villas-Boas’s Blues and a top four spot after all three sides either won or avoided defeat. These seven seem destined to slug it out for the European places.
Sunderland’s resurgence under Martin O’Neill continued with them easing to a home victory over an out-of-sorts Norwich. Wigan remain deep in the relegation mire, whilst Wolves players got a piece of their chairman’s mind after their defeat at the hands of Kenny Dalglish. Mick McCarthy might be under pressure you feel.
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