The Revolution will not be televised?

Lets get this straight. Football is not quite political enough to mention revolution in the England camp without having the distinct purpose of attempting to engineer such a situation. It is perhaps most striking that the nation's current favourite jester, James Corden, was confused as to the basis of disharmony and infighting caused by the relationship between Fabio Capello and deposed and mutinous captain John Terry. Striking because Corden, on his show World Cup Live represents the feeling of the average football following Englishman, and perhaps most other casual football fans. How did a 15 minute long interview with John Terry placed centre stage yesterday, where he set out ideals and plans that most England supporters wanted to hear, turn into an act of sedition? Terry had spoken about his time in the camp, his desire to improve and speaking on behalf of the other players reflected their commitment to work tirelessly to get through to the next round. All in all, he said all the right things. Except for the peculiar fact that the media circus that follows the England team like a swarm of midges in the Scottish Highlands (Scots hate those midges just slightly less than they do the English football media), had meticulously planted the seeds of the next days sensationalist news in the details of their questions.

The first one of the conference was this; "We are hearing stories of disorder and disharmony in the camp this morning, what is your view?... Terry's reply...There is no unrest in the camp at all." However the section of his answer that was reported was Terry's declaration that he was speaking on behalf of the players against Fabio Capello. This is categorically untrue. He was speaking on behalf of the players to present a united front to the nation and critics of the team. The overwhelming message of his conference was a determination to solve the obviously apparent problems with the performances of the players, whatever the method. There seemed, perhaps more than there has been at any footballing tournament before, a blatant need to generate a rift between power-hungry villain John Terry and the floundering Capello. The stories were already written, Terry has just played his staged role and incriminated himself. Essentially Terry's uttering about the qualities of Joe Cole, prompted by questions, have been spun into a challenge to the authority of Capello in his ability to pick the team. Again this is not the content of Terry's answer, he was professing a professional trust in the abilities of Cole and noted that if required (by Capello) could do a good job for England, in his opinion. Frank Lampard had discussed similar themes in his outing with the media savages the day after.

Capello has talked of a 'big mistake' in Terry's judgement for mentioning Cole by name, as he stated clearly that it is unhelpful to mention players as it will be disrespectful and a more difficult choice for the manager if a storm is generated for the inclusion of a player, in the public frame, when it could contravene his tactics. This does not entail that Terry is a mutineer, but that is the frame presented by the English media now, culminating in the ITN evening news presenting this episode as a 'showdown' between Capello and Terry. If we weren't in trouble after 5 minutes of playing Algeria on friday, we certainly are now and not because we are playing badly, but because the media fuelling the team's downfall. Oddly enough there are comparisons which can be drawn with 2006 in Baaden Baaden. Essentially Eriksson's attitude to the media was to allow them celebrity style access to the player's and thus distract them from the detail of winning football matches. As such, when England have performed disappointingly in the microcosm of the England contingent in South Africa, the media have had only one choice, to dismantle the team and create the ensuing inquisition. The England team might to best to refuse any media exposure 2 days before the crucial game of Capello's era. If it pays off a line can be drawn and built upon, if it fails Capello will be eaten alive, by the media and John Terry will be blamed, by the media resulting in a week's media coverage and calls for the revolution to be conducted swiftly, publicly and openly with televised executions. They have prepared the guillotine... now John Terry and co must make the crucial choice; whether it is better to die on your feet against Slovenia or to die on your knees... but perhaps the media have framed Zapata to meet their own ends too.