I don’t often get involved in the goings on with other clubs and their players but this story has over-lapped into England territory and so I feel that this gives me all the excuse I need to offer my own two-penneth.

It concerns, of course, the story about John Terry who had an affair with former team-mate Wayne Bridge’s former girlfriend, Vanessa Perroncel.

At first, John Terry and his lawyers successfully gained what is effectively a “gagging order” over the press which prevented them from revealing the identities of anyone concerned.

However, this was over-turned the other day and the judge summed it up like this, “Freedom to live as one chooses is one of the most valuable freedoms, but so is the freedom to criticise.”

I couldn’t agree more with that sentiment as a general rule but it does seem to avoid the one word that all of this is about… Privacy.

The Great British Press, of course, feel that they have a National Duty to divulge details of the affair because it is “in the public interest”. I had to laugh when I read the following in the Daily Telegraph… (I suppose I should add that this was printed by them because it was the News of the World’s argument for publishing the story and does not necessarily reflect the views of that esteemed publication)

“Details of the affair was in the public interest as any fall-out between the players could affect team morale in the England camp and even influence team selection at this year’s World Cup.”

Hmm… right. So revealing the details have solved that problem? No. Of course they haven’t. They have made it worse. Had Bridge found out in a different way then there may have been a bit of a head-to-head between the two in private. Now it has been splashed all over the papers for the world to see and cast judgement on.

Six months before a World Cup and with John Terry being the Captain and Wayne Bridge an important back-up for Ashley Cole, I would have thought that any concerns for the welfare of the English National team would have been best served by waiting until AFTER the World Cup or just keeping your mouth shut.

No, make no mistake about it. This story was not published with any sense of “duty to the nation” in mind and this story is not “in the public interest”. It was chance to sell some more newspapers and make a few quid. It was a chance to point the finger at a multi-millionaire footballer, caught with his trousers down and open him up for public ridicule whilst at the same time, causing enormous embarrassment for Wayne Bridge.

Wayne Bridge has been reported to be “in bits” about the revelations. He must have thought, like so many of these footballers do, that Miss Perroncel really, really loved him and was with him for his good looks and fascinating stories of how he beat the offside trap before unleashing a screamer into the top corner.

Get a grip man. Like so many of these women, they are there because you’re famous, pull several million pounds a year and get to go to all kinds of showbiz parties. The WAG culture offers these women their own 15 minutes of fame and a bit of publicity (perhaps the naughtier the better) for a lingerie model wouldn’t do her much harm either. How much will she be selling her story for? I hear she has enlisted the services of mega-publicist Max Clifford. Let’s start the bidding.

The big impact all this has is on the England situation. John Terry is the England Captain. There are calls from the hand-wringers for Terry to be relieved of his Captaincy, if not kicked out of the England setup altogether for this.

Wayne Bridge has apparently even said that if John Terry goes to the World Cup, he will withdraw himself from the England setup.

Well, I am sorry Wayne but you should be more professional than that and if you want to start making ultimatums like that then be prepared to spend the summer watching the World Cup from home because John Terry is more important to England than you are.

I am sure Capello realises by now that such is the sick nature of our Press they will be working overtime between now and the World Cup to dig up as much dirt as they can on as many of our National team as they can (all in the Public Interest, of course) so this revelation will be completely forgotten by June, anyway. My advice would be to not change a damn thing. Keep JT as Captain.

Apparently, in a show of support for their team-mate, the Manchester City players wore “Team Bridge” t-shirts under their City shirts today whilst the Chelsea players showed their support for John Terry yesterday when he scored their winning goal.

Me? I’m on no one’s team, they’re both a pair of plonkers.

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