John Terry left with it all to pay for after deal to buy Vanessa Perroncel's silence

Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent

John Terry became the first England football captain to be dismissed for off-the-field behaviour yesterday, after a string of lurid revelations and rumours about the player's private life.

Fabio Capello, the renowned disciplinarian who manages the team, met Terry at the Football Association's headquarters and relieved him of his duties.

Terry failed last week with a High Court "super-injunction" to prevent publication of details of his alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the former partner of Wayne Bridge, his England team-mate.

Last night it emerged that he may have paid as much as £400,000 to Ms Perroncel to stop her divulging details of their liaisons. The settlement led the former lingerie model to attend a press conference yesterday afternoon in which Max Clifford, her publicist, declared that, despite six-figure offers, she would not be selling her story to a Sunday newspaper.

The settlement proved too little, too late, for Terry in his efforts to retain the England captaincy. An hour before Ms Perroncel's press conference, he had been stripped of what he had called the "ultimate honour" during a twelve-minute meeting with Capello at Wembley Stadium.

Sources at the FA have indicated that, while the alleged affair with Ms Perroncel has attracted the most lurid headlines, it was a growing list of indiscretions, proven or otherwise, that had made the Chelsea defender's position untenable. The Chelsea player has faced a series of damaging allegations over his private life — most recently after it was claimed that his personal executive box at Wembley was being made available for hire at £4,000 a match.

Terry, who was replaced as captain by the Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, will remain an integral part of the England team preparing for this summer's World Cup finals, but stripping him of the captaincy represents a hard-line decision from Capello, the Italian who is paid a basic salary of £4.8 million a year by the FA.

Capello said: "After much thought, I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry. As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour. However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad. What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice. John Terry was notified first."

He was initially said to be open-minded about the prospect of retaining Terry as captain after the player failed eight days ago with the "super injunction".

Capello and the FA were angered by comments made by Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, who had called for Terry to lose the captaincy if the allegations were proven.

Terry left Chelsea's training ground in Cobham, Surrey, at 12.40pm yesterday in an Audi A8, having set up a decoy with a blacked-out Range Rover. He arrived at Wembley for what was expected to be a lengthy interrogation from Capello, but he left within an hour, having accepted the manager's decision as well as his thanks for his contribution as captain during the World Cup qualifying campaign.

In a statement, Terry said: "I fully respect Fabio Capello's decision. I will continue to give everything for England."

His statement did not include an apology or any reference to the allegations made about his personal life. He is understood to have decided against discussing them because he is committed to trying to salvage his marriage to Toni Poole, who is on holiday in Dubai with their three-year-old twins. Terry hopes to be given permission by Chelsea to visit her next weekend.

By the time he was sacked, Terry was drawing criticism not only from supporters and politicians but also the Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury joined the condemnation of the deposed skipper, linking his behaviour with a decline in marital fidelity in modern Britain.

In an unprecedented intervention, Dr Rowan Williams said that adultery was too easily tolerated. "Clearly, a lot of people think there isn't a problem there and that's a pity because adultery is adultery," Dr Williams told a reporter from the Religious Intelligence website, who asked him about Terry's alleged infidelities. "It's a shame that we lost that sense that faithfulness matters. I'd like to see it back."

Bridge, formerly one of Terry's closest friends in football, told friends before yesterday's developments that he was considering retiring from international football because he could not face the idea of being in the same squad as his former Chelsea team-mate. At least two of Bridge's non-English Manchester City team-mates are said to have celebrated the news that Terry had lost the captaincy.

According to The Sun, Terry has told a friend: "I was devastated when [Capello] said I was losing the job as England captain. I didn't expect that when I walked in. But I think I could return as captain once the dust settles and the heat is taken out of the situation. There is every reason for me to fight to get the armband back."

Terry said that Capello had been "firm and to the point" and made clear that he was interested only in making sure everything was right on the pitch.

The friend said: "John wants that too. He expressed to Capello that what mattered most was not what went on between the two of them, but winning the World Cup for England."

http://www.timesonli...icle7017235.ece

Edited February 6, 201015 yr by Sylph

Same thing happened here in Australia several years ago.

The captain of my football team was caught having an affair with the wife of his vice captain, in the bathroom of another team mates house while the respective wife and husband were also in the house.

The captian resigned and it was very interesting the following year when my team and the ex captain's new team meet up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1250591/John-Terry-plays-family-man-joins-wife-Toni-pool-Dubai.html

Interview:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article7020356.ece