John Terry - Really A Loss?

This week John Terry announced his retirement from international football, putting it down to a lack of support from the FA in the wake of the racism allegation made towards him from Anton Ferdinand. But will he really be missed, as a player or as a character around the England camp?

Firstly, make no mistake, the reason the court proceedings ruled in his favour was farcical. They ruled that John Terry was only repeating what he thought Anton Ferdinand said, how likely is he to be racist towards himself? So before all this, was he really the footballing role model an England captain should be? Not exactly. Having relationships with an a team mate's ex wife is hardly a way to set an example to future generations, causing a rift in camp with Wayne Bridge which caused problems in the Chelsea dressing room, as well as drawing criticism from the media as he was at the time still England's captain.

But how about John Terry the footballer? In his prime there was no doubt he was an asset to the England set up and to Chelsea, a no fear no nonsense centre back who will be remembered fondly by some as a good footballer. However I feel he, much like many others in the England camp, had played a tournament too many and think it's a shame he couldn't retire on his own terms. England have desperately needed to introduce new blood into the set up, with players like Lampard, Gerrard and Terry losing the pace and sharpness that they once had. Terry recently has become better known for his quality last ditch tackles and for the way he throws himself in front of the ball preventing shots at goal, but I feel this is because he has lost that  pace and cannot keep up with the top players in the Premiership. John Terry never had much of a football brain when compared to other quality defenders in the league, his reading of the game was never top quality and with losing his pace this makes him very susceptible to being caught out at the back. For example, the best performances he had for Chelsea were alongside Ricardo Carvalho, and for England Rio Ferdinand, players with a far better reading of the game than Terry.  Terry made up for his poor reading of the game with a never say die attitude and his willingness to put his body on the line, something he will be remembered for, but now is the right time to step aside. With players such as Cahill and Lescott stepping up and the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling being introduced amongst others, John Terry's time was about up, with the players coming in being of equal ability as players with far more time and pace on their side.

As mentioned, it's just a shame he couldn't retire from the international fold on his own terms. He put his choice down to the FA, who were merely doing the right thing in investigating a racism allegation, something high on the list of things the FA wants to eradicate. If he retired on his own terms, he would have shown himself in a far better light, but now the impression given is one that shows the "player power" mentality of John Terry thinking he is bigger than the FA.