How To Lose In A Game Of Bluff Poker

Publicerad på Vital Chelsea (länk till vänster)

On July 4, did I (as the first?) write an article about how much the John Terry rumours that now have grown to a novel of biblical proportions worried me.

John Terry has always been my Captain Fantastic. I have loved his daring, powerful, selfless way of playing. I think he is one of the best readers of the game we have had. I loved him those years he put his head up and gave us so many goals on set pieces (since then almost a forgotten art form in Chelsea, scoring on set pieces that is)

When I wrote it I just tried to be on top of things happening around Chelsea this Summer. I did not really believe that John Terry would end up in the situation (pickle) he is now.

Tomorrow Wednesday Citeh take off on their pre-season tour (Africa, Asia or wherever they are heading) and Thursday the Chelsea annual USA-tour takes off from one of the London airports. Both clubs have showed indications that they want to know where John Terry himself stands before the take offs. Citeh because they have a foreign legion to forge together and they want all their troopers in place preferably. Chelsea because we have a squad of world class quality that needs peace and quiet to learn the new manager`s ways and aims. That is what these tours are for, apart from the business side of them soliciting support in new markets.

I only asked for John Terry to confront (and hopefully lay to rest) the rumours growing after Chelsea`s strong reaction to the insulting bid from City. Not much I thought. But it obviously was too much for John Terry and his poor advisors.

Since then the rumours, conspiracy theories have been around and not whispered either, they have reverberated around our club and especially amongst us fans. Facts have been few, but very worrying. Rumours of meetings, joint holidays, loose lips and statements and renewed bids have been flying around.

Some say it is only the money. I fear that it is more than that, from silly things like John Terry being p*ss*d off because he was not welcomed back to Cobham in person by the vacationing Roman Abramovich. Grow up (if that is true)!

No smoke without fire is the conclusion just about all of us except the most stalwart fans of John Terry have made. No smoke without fire. Or is it just smoke for the prevalent theory of JT trying to up his recently set wages of £135.000 (?) a week. A sum very few people on earth makes. Any one would be flattered and probably interested in doubling our wages. That is natural. A recent poll showed that most of us thought JT should be happy with his wages, which until Lampard`s new contract was the very highest in the club. Maybe JT was hurt that Lampard was able to negotiate a better contract and leaving JT only the second highest paid player in history of our beloved Chelsea.

(During the Lampard discussion last year I always was 100% convinced he`d stay. I do not feel the same about JT staying…)

I honestly do not care if it is all a game. Because my former hero John Terry, you have hurt the club by playing this game and hurting Chelsea is nothing any one, not even you, can do without me starting to question that person or even losing faith in him. Your stand of not commenting is hurting our image and it is highly disruptive to the pre-season preparations. (Remember that by this time last year the Lampard contract was settled, I think!?).

JT has played a dangerous game with us supporters and our feelings and he has lost it - as I see it.

He has not gotten the support he counted on, instead we started to question what he is up to. And even worse for him, we started to think what it will be like without him and most of us found out that he might not be all that missed at all. This is probably the dumbest thing JT ever done, not responding to the rumours and the cries of him standing up and declaring his allegiances. Now we remember all those incidents, and they are many more than daspecial1 mentions in another article today, like the nightclub in Knightsbridge where he was accused of violence, and several others.

Whether JT and his lousy advisors set out to play a game of Bluff Poker in order to raise his wages or that his discontent of the club and its policies are genuine. This is a game John Terry has lost.

We have come to realise that we do not like our club being held ransom to outrageous wage demands. We all know that Chelsea is among the top clubs in the world when it comes to putting the highest percentage of our turnover into player wages. Maybe we started this game as so many gluttonoeus reporters and fans of other clubs claim, I think it was started way before in Italy but then that is just me. (In Italy it has already caused that league to lose the status of the world`s best and slipping badly, maybe even behind Bundesliga and just yesterday several prominent clubs have declared they no longer can afford to stay in the league system, club like Venezia, Treviso among them, Serie A clubs just some years ago)

So if it is the money. Take them and leave, but stop holding us hostages to your negotiating tactics JT.

Because, you see. We have also started to look on your contributions on the pitch with more neutral and objective eyes and JT has not come out well in that look. Even the stats show that Chelsea is a better team without John Terry.

We have cover in the club without even having to shop in the market if John Terry leaves. Of that I am totally convinced.

The claim of leadership being missed. I don`t buy it. I now get the feeling, wrong or not, that John Terry almost considers himself being more than Chelsea. His attempts of critizing the club for not buying star players is pretty damning. John Terry is not our manager. And even if I admire his leadership by example we have also been reminded of his poor behaviour towards referees that have damaged our image much. We have also been reminded of his less than exemplary behaviour off the pitch, not very becoming such a leader and captain …and legend.

I have no idea why John Terry chose not to quell the rumours, but I am convinced that whatever his reasons were - the one that have lost the most these two weeks is John Terry. His bluff has been called and it turned out to be a simple pair of deuces.

Chelsea will survive without John Terry and apart from the personal sentiment he might not even be missed. We have captaincy material in abundance in the club, so that will not be a problem for Carlo if he is forced to appoint another. (And remember JT, Carlo has given you the strongest support this far!) We have defenders of equal or better quality than JT in abundance, so he will not be missed footballwise. And maybe we can get a fair amount of money and save another fair amount of money on wages if JT decides to go the mercenary route.

Instead, John Terry will have a hard time earning back our trust if he stays. Did he count on that consequence when he chose not to take the bull by the horns? I doubt the famous banner will be flying the first couple of matches when the season starts. If John stays he has a lot of repair work to do to win back our love and trust. Both on the pitch and off it.

Standing idly by the fire, fanning the flames is never a good idea if you want to put out a fire. And if you want to play bluff poker, you really have to be sure that the other player do not have better cards than you do.

I can only speak for myself, but John Terry is no longer the man and player he was in my eyes just two weeks ago. I will still support and love him if he stays and be grateful for what he gave us if he leaves. I will however not wish him best of luck if he dons the sky blue colours after all declarations he has given us that he is Mr Chelsea.