Chelsea Captain John Terry’s Race Row: Ian Wright Gives A Masterclass In Stupidity

JOHN Terry Race Row: Today former Arsenal player Ian Wright wants to share his thoughts on The Chelsea and England captain.

It’s the Sun’s lead football story:

“JT shouldn’t be anywhere near England squad”

I understand the fact you’re innocent until proven guilty but that doesn’t mean the captain of our country’s football team should be involved in two friendlies while being investigated over allegations of making racist remarks.

Does Wright understand the concept of innocent until proven guilty? The police are investigating. The FA was investigating but when the police stepped in it had to stop.

The FA have made a total mess of this.

No. They have not. They police have made it clear that all parties should not discuss the case in public. The FA has played it by the book.

They don’t have a clue about how to deal with this situation and have fudged the issue by allowing Fabio Capello to pick Terry while insisting he won’t play against Spain — but will feature for 45 minutes against Sweden.

No, Wrighty. The FA has understood the fact that you are innocent until proven guilty. They have let Fabio Capello choose his England team on merit.

This is a joke. It’s embarrassing that he is involved but blatantly being shielded from any media attention by not starting either game. So why not leave him out in the first place?

Does Wrighy think the media picks the England team?

It seems to me that no one at the FA has the balls to stand up to Terry and say, ‘You may want to play but it would be better in the current climate if you stayed at home’.

Or, as someone sensible might put it: no-one in the FA has prejudiced a police enquiry into a serious allegation nor sought to undermine Capello by picking his team (see media).

Had we been approaching two competitive games, the FA would have had a major problem but Capello is already resting Wayne Rooney and he should have made the same decision with the Chelsea defender.

Is Wrighty picking the England team?

This whole situation stinks. We have a young squad looking forward to what should be a showpiece international but, instead, we are an embarrassment.

One moment he game is not competitive, the next it is a “showpiece international”. C’mon, Wrighty, at least try to be consistent.

In England, it just seems we find ourselves in one nasty situation after another. The great Bobby Moore must be turning in his grave.

That would be the same Bobby Moore who lived at time when football was hardly on the telly and players’ indiscrections were ignored?

Capello will also be glad he is washing his hands of us after the Euros in Poland and Ukraine.

Imagine the situation next autumn, as he relaxes at home with friends at the dinner table, glass of wine in hand. One of his guests asks: ‘Fabio, tell us about England. What was it like?’

“Well,” says Fabio. “It’s a place where racism is not tolerated; where referees are not bribed; where players do not give Nazi salutes; where football is not corrupt… Hey [laughs]. It’s not Italy.”

I wonder where the hell he will start when you consider some of the things he has seen since being here. Capello’s reply will probably be: “They’re all a bunch of Neanderthals.”

No, Wrighty. He will not think that.

If JT is found innocent, that’s fine. I just want to know the full details.

We all do. So do the police. And the FA.

I also feel sorry for Rio Ferdinand, who has once again been ignored.

Well, the team is being picked on merit.

There’s no way he could be brought into the squad — as Terry is there — because of the situation with his brother Anton.

Is Wright now saying that Terry’s presence is keeping Ferdinand out of the squad? Is he saying that Rio is too stupid to understand the concept of innocent until proven guilty, and that Capello recognises this?

The FA must be breathing a sigh of relief that Rio is deemed not match-fit to join up with the squad, therefore avoiding a very tricky situation!

So. Rio is not being ignored. He’s not fit.

If Terry is found guilty, he should not lead England out at Euro 2012.

If. And, yes. We all agree that. It’s a serious business. If Terry is guilty his career will be over.

Speaking generally, away from this current case, I want players to be terrific examples.

So says Ian Wright:

2008: Ian Wright’s ex-wife:

Minutes later Ian himself called me. He was distraught, but admitted all. He told me that he’d met this woman through his TV work and that they’d been seeing each other for a short time and that she meant nothing to him.
She was a fling, he said, a mistake that ‘just happened’ and it was me he loved. I just listened in shock, just as poor Cheryl must have done, my world crashed down. I’d trusted my husband implicitly and it had been repaid by him sleeping with another woman.

2007:

Ian Wright, the former footballer and television presenter, has been accused of calling an African traffic warden a “monkey”. He is also alleged to have told the man to “**** off back to his own country” in a dispute over a parking ticket. Wright denies all the warden’s claims, which followed the row outside his home in St John’s Wood, North London. He’s a liar,” he said. “He called me a white man who lives in a white man’s road. “I said to him, ‘I’m sure your parents are happy that you’ve come to England and been a traffic warden instead of a lawyer or something’.”

Wright was not guilty of racism. He was innocent. He was considered innocent until proven guilty and remained picked for TV assignments throughout the matter.

1999:

Wright was sent off by referee Rob Harris for two bookable offences. He had to be restrained by team-mate Trevor Sinclair from confronting the official, but then stormed down the Upton Park tunnel, kicked open the door to the referee’s room and caused damage to personal property and a TV set.

And there was this:

In February 2007:

Peter Schmeichel could become the first footballer to face criminal charges for alleged racist abuse as his feud with Ian Wright burst back into life. While everyone expected the Arsenal striker to be charged with misconduct by the Football Association for his behaviour at Highbury on Wednesday night, it was the Manchester United goalkeeper who found himself in deeper trouble.

Wright’s complaint that he subjected him to racial abuse during last November’s Premiership game at Old Trafford had not, as everyone believed, been quietly shelved. Instead, the police have been carrying out an extensive investigation and papers have now been lodged with the Crown Prosecution Service.

There were no close witnesses to the alleged incident, but several lip- readers claimed that television pictures showed the Danish international swearing at Wright and, if the CPS decides that evidence is strong enough, Schmeichel will find himself in a unique test case.

“There has been a long-running police investigation into the original incident at Old Trafford,” Steve Double, an FA spokesman, said. “As a result of police inquiries into the alleged racist remarks a report has been compiled and is currently being considered by the Crown Prosecution Service.”

Then what?

Richard Littlejohn, made a reasonable attempt to put Wright on the spot. But still the player’s shaky logic – that because he had made contact with the ball, what was the problem with the tackle – went unchallenged. Asked what went on in the tunnel at the end of the game, Wright was allowed to get away with the reply, “Nothing”.

The issue is confused by the element of alleged racism, denied on Schmeichel’s behalf by the Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson. Football’s anti- racism movement has done much to help change – though by no means get rid of – such attitudes among crowds. But at pitch level football is the most racially integrated sport in Britain, and in recent years the idea that a black player might be abused by a white fellow-pro on account of the colour of his skin has become virtually unthinkable.

No evidence was found and the case was dropped.

Wright ends:

Yet on Tuesday, we will play Sweden. Whether he starts the match or comes on at half-time, taking over the duties of captain, commentators around the world will tell their viewers that Terry is being investigated by the police over allegations of making racist comments.

Bet they don’t.

They will then remind everyone that England is the country who have reacted with fury in the past to racist chanting in various countries — most recently, Bulgaria. As a result, this current situation does none of us any favours.

It does. It shows that England is a fair-minded country – where innocence is presumed…

Nov 8: John Terry Race Row: Death Threats, Anton Ferdinand For England And Hiding In Sweden

Nov 4: John Terry Race Row: A Tabloid Hoax And Applying The Principles

Nov 3: John Terry: Blaming The White Working Class For Chelsea Captain’s Trials

Nov 2: John Terry Race Row: Racist Chelsea Fans And Newcastle’s Zero Tolerance

November 1: QPR’s Anton Ferdinand Retweets His Views On Chelsea’s John Terry?

November 1: John Terry’s Racism: Matthew Syed Insults Chelsea’s André Villas-Boas

October 31: Chelsea’s John Terry Is Innocent: Daily Mail And Stan Collymore See what They Want To See On YouTube

October 30: The Hollow John Terry Racism Debate: After Cantona and Kitson, The Chelsea Captain Matters

October 29: Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand Blasts John Terry? Daily Mail Guns For Chelsea Captain

October 28: John Terry Racism Row: Chelsea’s Andre Villas-Boas And Arsenal’s Wenger Are Badly Wrong

October 27: Why Is The Daily Mail In A Rush To Find Chelsea’s John Terry Guilty Of (Alleged) Racism?