How not to say sorry

It was inevitable that John Terry would no longer be captain of England when the dust settled on the Vanessa Perroncel scandal.

As a high-profile, married, millionaire sportsman, you don't dabble with the mother of your teammate's child (allegedly, of course) without expecting it to have serious consequences if you are caught.

But while the end result was never in question, the undignified way in which he lost the armband was something that could have been avoided.

As it happened, Terry was sacked by Fabio Capello during a curt, 12-minute meeting at Wembley. The Italian has a reputation for not messing around when it comes to discipline. And Terry's messing around was never going to go undisciplined.

But how much more dignified it would have been if Terry had done the decent thing and resigned the armband instead of being stripped of it. Showing some remorse and issuing a sincere apology would have at least gone some way towards repairing his personal image.

I am not going to pontificate on the morals of Terry's actions. After all, if infidelity was a serious crime then I think many Premier League clubs would struggle to field a full team on Saturday afternoons.

Don't get me wrong, I have my opinion on what he did. For example, I hate the fact that he put his own personal cravings ahead of any thought for the possible consequences for the children involved.

But this is not about what he may or may not have done with Perroncel. Or for how long. It is not about whether or not he got her pregnant. Or if he paid for an abortion. I will let you make up your own minds about the truth and morality of all that.

What I want to get at is how he has conducted himself since the story broke.

At no time, to my knowledge, has he shown even the slightest hint of regret. If not for the actions themselves, then for putting his wife, family and England colleague on the front pages of the newspapers.

In fact, he was so deluded in his own self-confidence that he actually believed he could hang on to the England captaincy.

And this delusion refused to go away even after his sacking, with his statement that he would do everything possible in the hope of regaining the captaincy in time for the World Cup. That's just not going to happen.

Club footballers can often get away with this sort of behaviour. In some cases, it is almost expected of them, a job requirement of the insanely rich with too much free time on their hands.

But the England captain, by the very nature of the position, needs to take the moral high ground. He needs to be impeccably behaved and lead by example. His need to know he has got his teammates' backing, and children need to look up to him as a role model.

And, thanks to his off-pitch conduct, neither of those two crucial elements were there any longer.

The England captaincy is an ambassadorial role and, apart from possibly improving relations between England and France, there was nothing remotely diplomatic about what Terry was up to.

I don't doubt, and never have, that Terry will give his all for his country on the pitch, despite his demotion. When it comes to playing football he is still a model professional: committed, determined and passionate. Ironically, perfect captain material.

Which makes me wonder if Capello has made the right decision in appointing frequently injured Rio Ferdinand as his successor. He may be better at performing the political side of the job, but there is little point having a captain who gets it all right off the field if he hardly ever gets on it.

Personally, I would have gone straight for Wayne Rooney. He has the passion, the injury record and the talent to be captain.

And, assuming he enjoys having his head attached to his body, he wouldn't dare fool around behind his wife's back.

Pompey cashback

Just a thought but, given their current financial woes, could Ports-mouth become the first football club in the world to actually encourage fans to throw coins on to the pitch?

Well, every little helps...

Giving up the fight

The transfer window that has just gone by was utterly unremarkable.

There were no mega-buck deals, no last-minute rushes and not a single transfer to make you choke on your cornflakes as you read the morning paper.

It may have taken a global recession to do it, but it finally seems clubs in England have realised the concept of living beyond your means also applies to football.

However, the one thing that did disappoint me about the window was that Michael Owen didn't take the opportunity to escape from Manchester United. And by staying put at Old Trafford I think he has finally sealed his World Cup fate.

The truth is he is no more than a bit part player at United. Someone to be used only if Rooney needs a little rest or if the game isn't all that important.

Sir Alex has said he can't play Owen and Rooney together in the same team - which I disagree with - and that essentially makes Owen nothing more than bench warmer.

And, with that being the case, there is absolutely no way he will get anything like the playing time he needs to fight his way back into the England team.

The problem is, I suppose, that the lad is in the comfort zone. He is undoubtedly earning decent money where he is, and by sticking around at United he knows he is at one of the world's biggest clubs.

Even if he doesn't play all that often, he will, over this season and next, add a few more medals to his collection and a few more zeros to his bank balance. And I can only imagine he put those considerations ahead of his England ambitions.

A move to a lesser club where he may have been playing week-in, week-out, would have given him the opportunity to prove once and for all whether he still has what it takes to represent his country.

I suppose there is always the chance that Sir Alex refused to let him go. But I doubt the Scot would have stood in the way of one of his fringe players moving to better himself.

Or maybe he promised him some proper pitch time over the coming months. Again, unlikely, given the way the season has panned out so far.

It's much more likely that Owen has given up on England and decided, on that basis, he may as well see out his playing days in the comfort zone rather than putting up a fight.

And that's a shame.

A fan is born

Just in case anyone was in any doubt about the importance football plays in the lives of some people, I think the following story sums it up.

When local rivals Southampton and Portsmouth were drawn against each other in the FA Cup for this weekend's round of matches, young couple Vince and Rebecca Reeves knew they just had to have tickets.

So when the box office opened, the two passionate Southampton fans joined the long queue. Nothing unusual so far, until you find out that Ms Reeves was nine months pregnant at the time.

After standing in line for a while, the young mother-to-be started to have cramps and soon realised she was going into labour. So she was rushed off to hospital to have her baby. Again, nothing overly unusual. Women go into labour at the oddest times on a regular basis.

But the twist was that the husband stayed behind in the queue, leaving a friend to take his wife to hospital. And he did so with the full support of his better half.

Apparently, the two were on the phone to each other, him asking her how the labour was going, her asking him what progress he was making in the queue.

As it happened, the football gods were smiling on the couple and Mr Reeves managed to work his way to the front of the queue, buy his tickets and make it to the hospital on time for the birth of little Jessica.

In a touching move, that has absolutely nothing to do with PR of course, Southampton have now given Jessica a season ticket for life.

Wouldn't it be ironic if she grew up to be a Portsmouth fan...

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com