Chris Rattue: Morals warped in sad witch-hunt

Finally, one of those preening, smug sports superstars got his just - or even unjust - deserts.

There is much celebration about John Terry's fate, although I would instead lament another invasion on consenting adults' freedom.

Terry has been given the boot as the England football captain - four months out from the World Cup finals - by team manager Fabio Capello, who has been lauded for putting a stamp of authority on the side and moral fibre back into the English game.

One player down, only a few hundred to go. Go Fabio, go.

There is a school of English soccer thinking that blames the rise of hooligans in the playing ranks for their national side not winning tournaments.

England can't bring itself to believe that the country's players simply aren't good enough.

The miscreants' wives, who have a strange habit of wanting to spend all the loot their husbands earn, even get to cop some blame.

Italian Capello is now the flavour of the month in England, where sections of the press dine out on the exploits of errant footballers, and would actually be dismayed if they all started behaving themselves.

On past performances, if all footballers turned into chaste monks, certain tabloids would just make the sexcapades up anyway. That's moral fibre for you.

Sex sells, and sport and sex sells better than most. On the hard and very fast facts alone, however, justifying what Capello has done to Terry becomes very difficult.

Crucially, the crafty Italian avoided giving any specific reasons for taking the captain's armband from the Chelsea leader.

Instead, a swirl of bad publicity has brought Terry down - Capello believed that a growing circus around the captain would be detrimental to the side's World Cup hopes even though Terry's club form has been superb through all the unfavourable headlines.

Terry's list of transgressions include parking in a disabled car park, charging to allow access for groups on unauthorised guided tours of the Chelsea ground, allegations he contravened the Wembley rules by sub-letting his box, and most crucially, a riveting sex scandal which has humiliated a former friend.

Just as crucially, he tried, unsuccessfully, to keep the press at bay on the sex story through a court injunction.

The so-called sex scandal involved the married Terry's liaison with a woman, the former partner of Wayne Bridge, who is also a member of the England squad, a former Chelsea teammate of Terry's and a former friend of the now former England captain.

If you can work your way through this maze of formers, what emerges is a dubious reason for the sacking.

The only clear line that Terry crossed was a generally regarded moral one, that of cheating on his wife. But this is none of Capello's business.

Sleeping with the former partner of an English teammate may not have been a wise thing for the captain to do, but this is not a crime of any sort, either. Bridge is said to be dismayed, but such is life.

He (or Capello) cannot expect to dictate who John Terry or Vanessa Perroncel sleep with, even though Bridge and Perroncel have a child together.

The whole affair has the hint of a witch-hunt to it, which is actually very disturbing. This hunt, the gathering of the crucial information, has been led by the English tabloids, who wouldn't know a moral if they slept with one.

Red herrings abound.

One story talked of how the new captain, Rio Ferdinand, did more for underprivileged people than Terry did. So what?

It is suggested Terry paid Perroncel not to spill the beans. But who wouldn't do everything they could to keep their intimate private life out of the public domain?

By many accounts, Terry is a rat. But he was named as England's captain - by Capello - for what he could do with the squad on and off the field, not for what he did in the bedroom or what he didn't do at the YMCA. And Capello has continued to praise him for what he has done in the football regard.

A man who is said by his boss to have performed very well in the job he was employed to do has been dropped as captain by the very same boss.

Capello has caved in before a media storm, and the media loves that.

Football wants to be an example to young people, and young people should know that all employees - even those on astronomical salaries - deserve certain rights.

Terry does not appear a particularly likeable character from this distance, but then again popularity contests are a fickle business and a matter of personal taste.

He is, however, regarded by almost one and all as the true leader of the England team, the only player with the drive and personality to make them tick to their best.

When you sack someone, vague sentiments aren't good enough. Specific offences are required, and Capello hasn't offered them.

Not to worry. The soccer community, powerless against overpaid and arrogant stars and faced with ridiculous ticket prices, has finally regained a glorious moment of control, and exacted revenge.

Weekend winner:

Not the Bangladesh cricket team.

What to watch:

The America's Cup - what a sport.