Soccer: John Terry's away record becomes a national affair

John Terry could face being stripped of the England captaincy over allegations he had an affair with the ex-girlfriend of team-mate Wayne Bridge.

Senior team-mates at club and country believe the Chelsea captain has over-stepped the mark and England manager Fabio Capello faces a tough decision deciding how to handle this complicated problem which threatens to undermine his side's attempt to win this year's World Cup.

Terry, the father of three-year-old twins, is alleged to have cheated on his wife Toni with Vanessa Perroncel, mother of Bridge's son, Jaydon.

The England captain married Toni Poole in 2007 - a £1 million ($2.3 million) ceremony which was largely funded by a lucrative deal with OK! Magazine - while Bridge is understood to have split from Perroncel, a French-born underwear model, at the end of last year.

Bridge and Terry were close friends when they were both at Chelsea. However, the Manchester City fullback, who is almost certain of a place in the World Cup squad, is so upset about the affair, he is considering announcing his retirement from international football.

Bridge, who was a team-mate at Chelsea until last January, when he was signed by Manchester City for £11 million, is understood to have the sympathy of several team-mates in the England squad and has also received the backing of some Chelsea players.

The Football Association will leave Capello to decide what action, if any, is to be taken against Terry, 29.

Capello is a strict authoritarian who encourages the squad to spend more time together as a group, rather than sitting in their hotel rooms playing video games.

If he believes Terry's extra-marital affair has damaged the morale of the squad with the World Cup less than five months away, he will want to act sooner rather than later.

The FA indicated they are unwilling to make any changes to the captaincy based on tabloid newspaper allegations.

Terry spent Friday night at a hotel in Lancashire with his clubmates ahead of Chelsea's Premier League game at Burnley overnight.

However, his judgement will once again be called into question after a set of embarrassing misdemeanours.

The latest revelations are likely to be the most damaging yet. Terry's lawyers Schillings had successfully applied for a high court injunction on January 22 to stop the public learning about the alleged affair which was to have been exposed by the News of the World. The newspaper appealed and yesterday the injunction was lifted by Mr Justice Tugendhat.

The alleged affair is a huge embarrassment for Capello, who made Terry his captain in August 2008 after a trial period in which he also looked at Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand. Either of those players, or Wayne Rooney, could now replace Terry.

It is not the first time Terry has brought shame on the privileged position of England captain. Only last month, he had to be reminded of his responsibilities on and off the pitch in a telephone conversation with a member of Capello's staff in the wake of reports he had accepted money for an unofficial tour of Chelsea's Cobham training ground. The club later denied that Terry received any cash in return for organising the tour.

That incident came shortly after The Independent revealed that Terry had enlisted the help of marketing company Riviera Entertainment Limited in a crass attempt to attract more personal sponsors.

Riviera sent out an email that used the official Fifa World Cup logo without permission and carried an image of Terry in a Chelsea strip without the club's knowledge. Terry said afterwards he had not approved the email shot.

In March last year, Terry's mum and mother-in-law were allegedly caught shoplifting £800 worth of clothes and food from two supermarkets.

In November 2009, Terry's father Ted was exposed by the News of the World allegedly agreeing to sell cocaine in a pub.

Capello and his management team still harbour concerns over why the experienced centre back shows such a lack of discipline in his private life.

The Italian is to wait until he has heard Terry's side of events before he makes any decision on his captain's future.

He will not make any major decision on Terry's future until next week when he returns from Lugano in Switzerland, where he is recuperating from a knee operation.

Capello has never backed away from tough decisions in a 19-year managerial career but this could be the most important call he will have to make during his time with England.

- INDEPENDENT