Is the News of the World Out to Get John Terry or What?

By: Daryl | December 21st, 2009

terry targeted Big scandally story in Sunday tabloid the News of the World yesterday had John Terry taking £10,000 in cash to give guided tours of Chelsea’s training ground. I’m not going to link to it. You’ll have to find it yourself. Alright, here it is. Just don’t tell them I sent you.

The paper’s undercover reporters posed as rich businessmen and allege that they paid Terry the money through middleman and ticket tout Tony Bruce.

Is it just me, or are the News of the World out to get the England captain?

This is the same tabloid that just over a month ago had undercover reporters pose as coke-heads so they could catch Terry’s father selling them white powder in a toilet. According to the story it wasn’t just any old cocaine either. It was “deadly cocaine”.

And now this undercover sting story about John Terry himself. What they’ve exposed here has nothing to do with public safety or corruption in football or anything of wider consequence. All they’ve done is cast doubt on Terry’s character.

The story does mention Terry giving £8,000 out of the £10,000 to charity (the other £2,000 apparently went to middle man Tony Bruce) but doesn’t sound too convinced. It’s also at pains to point out that Terry already earns £160,000 per week and is – according to them – obsessed with money and possibly not suited to the Chelsea or England captaincy.

I’m sure John Terry’s no angel. But he’s not the devil either. If three idiot businessmen wanted to pay me £10,000 for a quick tour of where I work, I’d probably say yes as well.

The more annoying thing is the absolute hypocrisy of the News of the World. They’ve spent 2009 selling papers by attempting to destroy the England captain’s reputation, but now they’ll spend 2010 selling papers by supporting England’s World Cup campaign. They shouldn’t be allowed to do both.

Some Related Stories:

Category: English Premier League

« FIFA Rules Pt. I: Lampard Scores Three In A 1-1 Draw. | Home | FIFA Rules Pt. II: Blowing The Passive Offside Rule Out Of The Water. »

The Offside RSS Feeds

Diane

The "Screws of the World" has been trying to knock down England captains for as long as I can remember after Rupert Murdoch bought it. They go after the highest profile people their readership cares about and, in England, that's very much the stars of the national team. They didn't have the Sunderland sex tape on the front page (that was they're cousin, The Sun), but who was the most famous player involved -- I don't know actually.

Even with his charitable generosity and support of the Chelsea womens team, which alone would normally make me a fan, I dislike Terry for his frequent poor sportsmanship on the pitch. But I dislike Murdoch's papers even more.
Dan

English newspaper builds up big star and knocks him down? Oh, the horror. Where have I seen that before?

It's been a bad year for Terry. His mum and mother-in-law being nicked for shoplifting, his dad's cocaine dealing, his representatives putting out releases encouraging commercial organisations to help 'JT' make the most of his profile and now this. Regardless of whether you'd do it or not Daryl, it's not the conduct you'd want from an England captain.

Plus, he's not looked at his imposing best on the field for a while yet.
Adam

Oh no, not DEADLY COCAINE. That's at least 3 times worse than run of the mill cocaine.
diana

To answer your question in the title Daryl, I'm beginning to suspect it is the case. What hypocrisy.