It should have been the moment Manchester United lost the European Cup. John Terry stepped up to take Chelsea’s fifth penalty, knowing that if he scored, Chelsea were the Champions of Europe for the first time in their clubs history.
After the first 45 minutes of football, United should have been 3-0 up, after completely terrorising the Chelsea back four. However, the first half ended at 1-1, after a ball in to the box took a deflection off both Ferdinand and Vidic, before a Van der Sar slip enabled Frank Lampard to find the back of the net. Gutted.
It was quite fitting then that the slippy ground cost Chelsea in the same way, with Terry landing on his arse and seeing his attempt come back off the post.
A miss from Anelka, after Nani, Anderson and Giggs scored their penalties, saw United win the match and the European Cup for the third time, the second under Sir Alex Ferguson.
As United celebrated wildly on the pitch, Terry cried, and cried, and cried. Is he over it yet? Is he fuck.
In a quite embarrassing open letter on the Chelsea website, John Terry poured his heart out after the Champions League final.
“I am so sorry for missing the penalty and denying you the fans, my team-mates, family and friends the chance to become European champions,” it said. “I have had some amazing support from fans, current and ex-players, family and friends and I need to thank everyone for that. But I am a big man and I take responsibility for us not winning. I am and always will be Chelsea through and through. I will give my all on and off the pitch to win this trophy as a player and one day as a manager. And I am sure we will win it. That night in Moscow will haunt me forever and I feel I have let everybody down and this hurts me more than anything. I am not ashamed about crying.”
Cringe.
However, this complete self-destruction was seen as a positive thing by many. Whilst his love for his football club is admirable, I can’t understand how this self-indulgent cry-baby response to the mistake he made in Moscow brought about the praise he received in the weeks following. Despite this meltdown, people still seemed to be convinced that Terry was this hard man who can handle any situation.
“Unfortunately for him, he suffered a big low in his career with what happened in Moscow last week,” said Steven Gerrard. “But we always knew he was going to bounce back. That is the type of fantastic character that he is.”
“If anyone is capable of dealing with that situation, it’s John Terry,” said our very own Owen Hargreaves.
“John should have no worries because he is the strongest man I have met in football,” said Fatboy Lampard.
Whilst large sections of the country continued to laud him as a tough man, who was just passionate, wearing his heart on his sleeve, I tended to sway with an opposing point of view. What kind of pussy stands there bawling his eyes out after losing a football game, then has the nerve to claim he’s a ‘big man’? Whilst there is nothing wrong with being a man who is in touch with your emotions, to a certain extent, crying like a little boy (like little Chelsea boy fans all over the country that night) because you lost a football match is not the behaviour of ‘big men’.
At the last World Cup, when the England players were in bits following the penalty misses from Gerrard, Carragher and Lampard, Neville went around rallying the troops. At 31-years-old, he had to know this was probably his last chance at winning the World Cup, but instead of lying on the ground and crying, he took the defeat like a man and got on with it.
“We could not have given any more, but ultimately we lost and we are out of the tournament and going home on Sunday,” he said. “For England and the expectations of the people, this is not good enough.”
I’m not asking for footballers to be emotionally void machines. If football matters to you, you are going to show emotion. When Gary Neville went bonkers in front of the dippers, it was because this club is the centre of his World. Shedding a tear here or there is again something you imagine will happen with footballers who really love their club, through joy or sadness. But I can’t abide by the idea that Terry is some hard man after he spent hours bawling following his penalty miss.
John Nicholson seemed to share my viewpoint.
There can be few blokes who really are ‘a man’s man’ who would not have felt a degree of nausea, if not outright contempt, at the waterfall of John Terry’s tears last Wednesday.
But his display served a very good purpose. It illustrated exactly what is wrong at the core of English football. As England’s national side comes into focus again this week, there is much Fabio Capello can learn from Terry’s emotional breakdown.
Let’s get this right, if you are weeping so uncontrollably for so long just because you have lost a football match, you are emotionally immature; you are a boy in a man’s body.
Few of us go through life without an occasional watery eye – more usually born of joy rather than disappointment – but we reserve the proper out-and-out crying for life and death matters, not for football.
If you are crying that much about football, what on earth are you going to do if, God forbid, a real tragedy strikes you? Where is left to go emotionally?
It’s bitterly ironic that the press are still so intent on painting Terry as a specifically English icon and hard man when the traditional English way is the exact opposite of his behaviour.
The traditional English way is the stiff upper lip; emotion is expressed only in private and if shared then only with loved ones. Publicly-expressed emotion is for the weak and the self indulgent. It is certainly not the sort of thing leaders of men indulge in. It is undignified and shows lack of character. And yet we are told he is still ‘England’s lion’. The same things were said about Tony Adams even when his life was in a mess and he was a raging alcoholic. Why are these type of people so many English fans’ heroes? Is dysfunction attractive? Is it now the norm?
I am not denying a man his right to cry, not at all. Following hours and hours of alcohol consumption, I can only imagine what my reaction would have been had Terry put that penalty away. However, as I dragged myself back to the pub the following day, I wouldn’t have insisted that despite my emotional break down, I was a ‘big man’ and that’s why I was entitled to cry.
United have lost important matches, yet I can’t remember seeing any of our lads breaking down in tears. In the 2006-2007 season, we lost to AC Milan away after beating them at home. Our players walked off the field dejected, disappointed, sad, frustrated…but there weren’t buckets of tears, in fact, there weren’t any tears. Ryan Giggs, who captained us that night, was 33-years-old and was well aware that might be his last shot at winning the competition again. He had been a United player since 1987 and here we were, 20 years later, and his side had just lost the game which could have proven to be his last chance.
Like Gallas’ break down helped ruin Arsenal’s title chances, Terry failure to lead like a man, one who doesn’t cry after every big defeat (World Cup quarter final, Champions League semi-finals and finals), could also work in our favour. Whatever passion he inspires in his desperation for Chelsea to win, the same of Gary Neville at United, there have got to be some players in the dressing room who struggle to take a man seriously who has a big cry every season when they lose.
Terry has certainly suffered a fall from grace of late. When Chelsea were flying high, he was hailed for his great leadership abilities. He commanded respect from the players and fans, enjoying lifting the trophies as they fell in to Chelsea’s lap. However, with the players disciplinary problems finally being highlighted by the press, England’s capitulation in the Euro qualifiers (with Terry missing the all important crucial match against Croatia because of ‘injury’, although played 90 minutes for Chelsea vs Derby at the weekend!) and his general poor attitude in response to any criticism he suffered, he isn’t the ‘Golden Boy’ of England anymore. He is physically strong but emotionally weak, which he displays far too often on the field.
So, two months have passed since that moment, has Terry dealt with his penalty miss?
Course not. Whilst this certainly says a lot about his dedication and strong feelings towards Chelsea, it also makes his mentality questionable.
“Every morning I wake up and it’s the first thing on my mind,” Terry said yesterday. “I still think of it. I’m still very disappointed by it, but I’m a big man and have a big character and it’s down for me to deal with it.”
Big man? Pull the other one!
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Scott, you made me laugh and snork my coffee all over my computer. That letter on the Chelsea website *is* embarrassing. My personal rule is that an athlete can shed tears if in extreme agony, is celebrating a dream-of-a-lifetime success or achievement, or has just learned that a beloved teammate is dying of an incurable disease. If defeated, just man the f*ck up. No one likes a cry baby.
Laughed myself to death, can’t wait to see the torrent of abuse levelled at you by wandering rentboys who found this link through the “Terry” in the title.
Keep up the good work winding them and the dippers up – so much more fun than reading about Ronnie!
What a completely asinine post. Where are you from – the stone age?
I personally was absolutely overjoyed to see Terry blow the shot. He’s the worst kind of footballer out there, an arrogant bastard who considers both he and the rest of his team above the laws of the game. Some of his performances with referees, such as the infamous episode when he tried ripping the red card from the ref’s hands last season, were a disgrace to the game.
But writing a piece essentially questioning his manhood due to his crying after the penalty shootout? I bawled my eyes out for days after my five-month old son died, and I’d like to see someone question my manhood or my right to do so. John Terry is a dick in innumerable ways, but blowing the penalty, and thus losing his side the European Championship, was obviously something that understandably hit him hard, and will hopefully linger with him every time he plays United from now on. But as much as I dislike the guy I sure as hell wouldn’t begrudge him the right to shed a few tears over the incident, or dredge up Neanderthal attitudes questioning his character because of it.
Your post was simply an embarrassment to all true followers of Manchester United. Zealous support for the United cause is one thing, overblown and insulting pieces written in poor taste is quite another. It’s just an f-ing game guy, not a propaganda prelude to World War III. Go see a shrink – you need one.
Timbo – you missed the point, which I did emphasise clearly enough. It’s nothing about whether men are allowed to cry or not… but that a man who cries every time he loses an important football game is not a ‘big man’ and is questionable as a leader.
You are only insulting yourself by comparing the death of your son to JT missing a penalty. That is real life vs a football game.
“Let’s get this right, if you are weeping so uncontrollably for so long just because you have lost a football match, you are emotionally immature; you are a boy in a man’s body.
Few of us go through life without an occasional watery eye – more usually born of joy rather than disappointment – but we reserve the proper out-and-out crying for life and death matters, not for football.
If you are crying that much about football, what on earth are you going to do if, God forbid, a real tragedy strikes you? Where is left to go emotionally?”
I saw Ronaldo crying on the pitch after the 2005 FA Cup Final defeat to Arsenal. Also, whenever Portugal are knocked out of whatever tournament they happen to be in – although that’s obviously not when he’s wearing the United shirt.
Gopher – and does anyone regard Ronaldo as a ‘big man’? Mr Tough Man Ronaldo, is it?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y51/tarheelhombre/ronaldopepe.jpg
I imagine most Chelsea fans would be horrified if JT’s ‘manliness’ was comparable to Ronaldo’s lol.
Thing is, Terry did not lose Chelsea the CL trophy. His miss, only allowed United to draw level on penalties. Before his miss, it had been United under pressure, because they could not afford to miss again. After Terry missed, Chelsea players were under pressure to deliver when our players scored their penalties. So the pressure had now shifted from us to them. Anelka lost the match for them, because he missed the telling penalty.
Timbo, ffs, everybody with a heart would have cried over losing a child, and everyone else with you. That is what Scott was getting at. The difference between bawling our eyes out over REAL LIFE ISSUES like yours, and sobbing over something as non life threatening as losing a football match. Thing is though Scott, Ronaldo is very good at the weeping game, after Portugal lost in the world cup, and we won in the CL. I think there’s different types of leadership, like Ronaldo leading from the front in the goals stakes. Terry putting his all in for Chelsea and their players in every game, fighting for their cause. But I do agree, that bawling to such a pitiful extent when the rest of the Chelsea team are suffering as much loss and disappointement, is a massive flaw in Terry’s character, and was not showing masterful control. As captain, he should have been comforting his troops, and not the other way around.
What a captain, cries tears for himself instead of picking his players up, what was great to see was Scholes shaking hans with the Chelsea players, would J(Twat) or Lumps do the same I think not.
dude, I couldn’t stop laughing my arse off!!! Scott, if some chelsea fans knew who you were, they’ll have assasinated you by now. Gladly, they don’t, so keep the anti-Chelscum posts comin.. lol
@ Gabriel, your post says more about the lunacy among Chelsea fans, if their answer to comments or jibes about their team provoke them to go around seeking to kill people. SAD!. You in your own words in your post, describe your fellow fans as Chelscum. Violence from fans does equal SCUM, no matter what clubs those fans follow.
@ Gabriel you are a class act, scumbag
Craig Mc & Stephen, lighten up! it’s a joke, I’m sure other team supporters have bad names for ManUtd and us ManUtd fans. If you can’t see the funny side in the post, then it ain’t for you.
@ Gabriel “Scott, if some chelsea fans knew who you were, they’ll have assasinated you by now” Yes Gabriel thats really funny mate and no its not for me Scott, Craig MC or anyone.
Well, Stephen, if that’s ur opinion, fine, it was a joke, maybe not to your taste but it was one nonetheless. Btw, calling someone a ‘scumbag’ without any justification isn’t really ‘a class act’, is it?
I also cry every morning when I slot the disc of that miss into my dvd player – tears of joy ! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
HAHAHAHAHAHA great post Scott.
“What kind of PUSSY stands there balling his eyes our after losing a football match, then has the nerve to claim he’s a Big Man?”
HAHAHAHAHAHA LOVE IT
I’d like to hear what that fuckface Rob has to say about this.
@ Gabriel, sorry comments like “Scott, if some chelsea fans knew who you were, they’ll have assasinated you by now” I would say have justification for calling you a scumbag mate.
Gabriel, just a minute mate, are you a man utd fan teasing Scott that the Chelsea fans will be after him (if they knew where he lives) for the articles he is writing about Chelsea?. If so I apologise, because I thought you were a Chelsea fan threatening Scott. Have Stephen and I got the wrong end of the stick LOL.
LOL @ Denton Davey. Does make me smile watching the Terry miss though, as it made the Chelsea fans smile when Ronaldo missed his penalty no doubt!.
Stephen, seeing that Scott has had three posts today that are not chelsea-friendly I thought it was appropriate to use a hyperbole to describe how some chelsea fans might be feeling if they saw all those postst. I, myself being a ManUtd fan obvously wouldn’t know how they would feel, hence the hyperbole. However, if you took it out of context, it’s understandable, but to call me a scumbag and stand by it after I have explained myself is just unsavory.
Lads, drop it now eh. Cheers.
@ Gabriel , sorry mate I took your posts completly out of context.
Didn’t know about that letter. What a fucking faggot.
Can’t help but think that Ronaldo does his fair share of crying though…
I think Terry and Ronaldo were having a ‘see who cried the best’ competition.
Nobody calls Ronaldo a “big man,” not least himself.
If after losing the CL final, Gary Neville wrote an open letter to the fans calling himself a big man and a born winner and oh-so-sorry for the fans, I know I’d not be the only one disgusted at that self-pitied, sympathy-seeking bawling
LOL @ Tom F’s post. The crying competition – hahahahahahah!.
Why do you all talk like you’ve neva cried before. JT love his team and a devoted player as such and so whats wrong to show his emotions when the need arrives? Please, you guys should spare us the time and give us a break.
Terry is a complete twat.
Please hold on, are you spelling your name that you are a twat? Oh, i see. Thanks for making we, the Chelsea fans aware.
pathetic