Captaincy Awaits

They say time waits for no man. Try telling that to John Terry this week, as the former/future England armband incumbent lies back and lets others do the talking.

Unofficial ‘King of the Tweets’ (or other animal outbursts) Rio Ferdinand has apparently become more vocal than on a regular sick week, ever since his international manager, Fabio Capello, was reported to be mulling over the reinstatement of media rogue Terry in his fellow Londoner’s stead as skipper.

However, it may be in both the interests of the stand-in and the stalwart to sit on the sidelines right now, rather than stand up and be counted, as those doing the counting may only be doing so in terms of ‘enemies up’ with regards to Terry and ‘days down’ in the case of Rio.

The island of England, and particularly its cultured capital, isn’t too fond of blowhards. Die-hards, they live for. But these are the men who perennially express themselves through their actions and this, even in the modern age, does not stretch to typing.

When Terry, understandably agitated by the foreseeable plight of last summer’s World Cup adventure in South Africa, attempted to show the nation his commitment to the cause using words of passion and bravado, he was depicted as a man with his heart not on his sleeve, but set on disrupting the camp and unsettling his coach, in so doing hastening the Italian’s departure so that the outcast might get another audition in the lead role under a replacement director.

Likewise when Ferdinand, often implementing honesty and insight in order to communicate more openly with his followers around the world, tweets consistently and keeps channels open for fans to get their celebrity fix, the quotes which are broadcast in the wider medium are invariably those which leave the part-time leader of club and country open to criticism, such as his unseemly and ill-advised spat with the infamous Robbie Savage.

As Capello jetted off to a Swiss retreat to, apparently, mull over the issue when the Terry-Bridge story first broke last year, it surely crossed the minds of many that he may have been playing his very own, drawn-out version of the waiting game.

The media’s influence can never be underestimated; Terry himself feeling the fall-out from murmurings of talks with Manchester City during the previous close-season, as the Chelsea captain returned from holiday to find that the story had snowballed to the point where a formal statement had become paramount in putting it to bed.

As opinions are gauged and judgements are passed this week, the consensus is that the whisperings which led Capello to first don his thinking cap may be about to replace the uproar that eventually followed and forced the manager to relieve Terry of his duties in the first place.

If this is the case and his team-mates and countrymen choose to rally round their leader in public - great. If this is to result in the emergence of a captain and comrades who will feel obligated to do their talking on the pitch, then so much the better.