Thoughts on John Terry's 4 game ban

Thoughts on John Terry's 4 game ban

John Terry was today fined £220,000 and banned for 4 games racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. This trial came after John Terry had already been cleared in a court of law in early July when there was a unanimous verdict of not guilty, and Terry walked free thinking that his name had been cleared in the process. However, the FA continued with their trial of John Terry, almost setting out to have an agenda against the Chelsea captain, to the extent that JT has now retired from international football due to the FA making his position untenable. 

JT now has 2 weeks to answer to the charge and can decide whether to appeal the decision. After the verdict was given JT said that he was disappointed that the FA had come to a different conclusion than a court of law, and Chelsea fans will completely agree. 

How is it the FA feel that they can justify banning a man who's already been proven to be not guilty in a court of law? It's clear that they feel they're 'above the law' in making this verdict. The long and short of it is that they've given two fingers to the justice system and done their own thing. That's not how a Football Association should be run! 

This saga is one that has dragged on for far too long now and many will ask why the FA didn't conduct this trial months ago. Well I'll tell you. The FA thought that there was a good chance that JT would be convicted in court and given a guilty verdict in this case, which would therefore give them the opportunity to make an example of John Terry and impose him with a ban far greater than the 4 games he received today. However, that backfired when he was given a not-guilty verdict. 

This case cost Fabio Capello his job as England manager, and for any England fan who's a Chelsea fan as well, you have to respect the man for that. He knows that John Terry isn't a racist. He knows that this is a man who is a born leader, who puts his neck on the line for his team, and is a wonderful football. Yes, JT hasn't helped himself in the past when it comes to controversy, like where he allegedly slept with Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend. For this he was hung out to dry by the media, calling for his head, and it resulted in the first edition of 'handshake gate' and JT stripped of the England armband for the first time. But, these were always just allegations. The newspapers who printed them were forced to publish apologies stating that the stories were misleading. Bet you didn't hear that did you? That's because you would only be able to see it in the small print. 

John Terry got booed for this wherever he went, with chants of 'cheat cheat cheat', and then you look at how people reacted to Ryan Giggs being outed as the footballer sleeping with Imogen Thomas AND his brother's wife. They didn't seem to care. No booing, no nothing. Ok, there was a bit of banter on twitter about it but nothing to the same extent as John Terry has had to put up with. 

As mentioned earlier, JT has 2 weeks to appeal the ban, and I would really hope that he does appeal. At the end of the day, the FA have no leg to stand on in my eyes. Their own rules state that any person who is convicted in a court of law, that verdict is deemed to be correct. So why the double standards with JT? 

We will sure miss our inspirational captain when he's missing for those 4 games, but we do have sufficient cover. With Cesar coming in, that frees up Ivanovic to possibly play in his favoured central position, and also Cahill and David Luiz. So in that respect there isn't too much to worry about. 

Whichever way you look at this, John Terry was never going to come out rosy. If he wasn't banned people would have still booed him. But I guess JT's used to that by now! When he looks back at his career when he retires, do you think he'll care about what opposition fans thought of him? Not at all. All he'll care about is the trophies he's won, and the memories he can take away from being Chelsea's most successful ever captain. One England Captain. We love you JT. Captain, Leader, Legend. 

KTBFFH

Will Talbut @WSTalbs

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