The boys are behind me
ENGLAND captain John Terry announced his return as the team’s leader by admitting: “I’m not everybody’s cup of tea” but insisted that he has 100 per cent support of his international team-mates.
Terry will wear the armband for the first time in over a year at the Millennium Stadium for the Euro 2012 qualifier with Wales on Saturday.
The 30-year-old replaces the injured Rio Ferdinand who had taken over from Terry in February last year after he was sacked following his off the field behaviour.
The Chelsea skipper accepts there are those who will never forgive him but he has challenged any member of the squad with a problem to address the issue face-to-face.
Terry said: “I am not going to be everybody’s cup of tea. I understand that.
“But the manager is in charge. He calls the shots and has made his decision.
“None of the players have had a problem with it yet and I would expect if there was a problem someone would tell me.
“I would totally respect that but I can’t see any reason why they would.
“It is important to draw a line under the captaincy and move on.
“I am looking forward to getting back out there and leading the team out again. I know there will be pressure and I expect nothing less than what is asked of me.
“Naturally I’m ready for the spotlight. There’s no getting away from that, but I’ve been fully concentrating on my form for both club and country.”
Terry also confirmed that there is no bad blood between him and Ferdinand after the pair spoke following Chelsea’s win over Manchester City on Sunday, but Capello’s decision to relieve him of the responsibility of leading his country so close to a World Cup still wrangels with him.
“I accepted their decision. It doesn’t mean to say I agreed with it, and I never will,” said Terry. “They made their decision, which I didn’t agree with. I didn’t agree with the decision, which I told them (Capello and assistant Franco Baldini) face-to-face.
“I could understand it a little bit, but once they spoke to me – and it’s difficult for legal reasons to go into detail – I just felt I didn’t deserve to lose the armband.”