Winter drawls on… Henry, to be precise, although he signally failed to be so in his Telegraph column this morning, as he giddy-upped and rode on into David Bernstein’s posse, under the headline ‘Sheriff Bernstein ready to run bad boys out of town’. Leaving aside the obvious analogous alignment [with the FA as a bunch of cowboys] this article nevertheless has all the precision of a Wild West vigilante group taking the law into it’s own hands and all the haphazardness of its inevitable outcome, so in many respects the tone of it is pretty much spot on.

However, dear old Henry saddles up far too enthusiastically for my liking, calling the FA chairman’s leadership a ’moral crusade’ and justifying his support by waving spurious comments around like firebrands at a witch hunt. Take the following…

“Capello left because Bernstein did not want Terry to enjoy the honour of the England armband at a time when he was embroiled in a dispute over alleged racism. Hodgson was brought in for his footballing credentials and also because Bernstein trusts him.

Terry found himself caught in the perfect storm of a campaigning chairman, a public increasingly disenchanted with underachieving England footballers and the censorious shadow cast by the Olympics. London 2012 strengthened Bernstein’s evangelical zeal.â€

Yet despite unabashed reference to frailties clearly inherent in the Bernstein modus operandi - let’s ignore the ‘alleged’ part of the racism charge - don’t like the Italian guy - get good old Roy in - Winter still feels he can mosey on past them for the [all too] simple reason that, and I quote “Bernstein is a man who genuinely wants to do good.†So that’s all right then? Well, no it isn’t, quite frankly, especially if we are to be fair to all parties and Winter himself has to acknowledge, almost immediately after this bizarre justification for his [seemingly unshakeable] support in print, a chairmanship failure over the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s Report…

â€The FA’s response was sluggish and inadequate, confirming long-established fears on Merseyside about the governing body.â€

Not sure how many more clues Winter wants in his wide-eyed Wonderland, but even here he gives Bernstein praise for a belated FA apology and further kudos because ‘Certain previous chairmen would not have responded [at all]’. He also adds the observation that Bernstein is ‘…so strong on principles and a committed family man’ the reader is left with a distinct impression that whatever the Chairmen says goes, without question when it comes to bringing order to English football, because he is THE pillar in an otherwise morally-crumbling game.

By stark contrast, I remain unconvinced. For me, there was an old school prejudice inherent in Bernstein that was bursting to get out from the start and when Capello was ignored [over the removal of JT’s England captaincy] it must have come as quite a shock to his antiquated system when the Italian told him to stick his job where the sun wasn’t shining. Principles, eh! Who’d have them? Fabio, evidently, so when this Bernstein oversight was swiftly followed by another, hanging fire on justifying his decision until a court of law did it for him, few were surprised when he picked a bum steer once again. A final chance to redeem himself and his reputation then went begging as he engineered the continued pursuit of JT through a current hearing that might just as well have been advertised by being plastered on a series of ’WANTED’ posters.

Little wonder, other than in Winter Land of course, that JT decides to hand himself in instead of being branded for life by these rustlers. Stripped of the England captaincy twice, once for something he didn't do and once for something he was acquitted of in a court of law, all at the ultimate instigation of a ‘committed family man’ who thought nothing of awarding Ryan Giggs - but didn’t he carry on an affair with his brothers wife for a decade that included trips to the abortion clinic? - the captaincy of Olympic Team GB. Surely it cannot be too long before there is a general recognition of the [double] standards being set by the current FA regime under the chairmanship of David Bernstein and a long look is taken at the debilitating effect it is having on morale beneath the ultra-moral banner

Alan’82, on another thread, got it right when he said, ‘…there are still many decent England fans who deserve better too. How will the national side ever be a success when so many individuals (& fans) are pulling in different directions?. Like so many ways in modern life, the FA seem to have too many gobsh*te chiefs and not enough smart Indians.’ Could not have put it better myself, Alan, although it’s Chief Sitting Bulls**t and his puffing pipe of Kick It Out appease that really needs to be removed, without hesitation and back to his reservation.

Excelent and erudite post. Couldn't agree more. The issue to me is not so much as whether JT is truly innoncent or not (that depends on how you want to define inncoent) but the lack on consistency shown by the FA. This is brought in to sharp focus by your very valid point highlighting the amazing double standards shown by awarding Giggs the captaincy of GB team at the high profile media driven spin nightmare that was the Olympics. This despite not allegations but revelations of his affair with his brother's wife. JT was stripped of his captaincy twice because of allegations none of which so far have been proven. The current trial is nothing more than a kangaroo court; JT is right to have been advised to treat it as such.

John Terry: ALLEGED affair with an EX team mates EX girlfriend .. Stripped of captaincy.

Ryan Giggs: Caught after a TEN year affair with his BROTHERS WIFE including trips to the ABORTION CLINIC.. Made captain in the country's biggest sporting event since 1966.

If it wasn't so sickeningly hypocritical it would be funny.

And the less said about Plug and Stevie mee the better.

Alan

John Terry: ALLEGED affair with an EX team mates EX girlfriend .. Stripped of captaincy.

Ryan Giggs: Caught after a TEN year affair with his BROTHERS WIFE including trips to the ABORTION CLINIC.. Made captain in the country's biggest sporting event since 1966.

If it wasn't so sickeningly hypocritical it would be funny.

And the less said about Plug and Stevie mee the better.

Alan

Put like that it really does show just how ridiculously hypocritical they can be.

the english FA can learn a thing or 2 from the french FA. benzema and ribery had an alledge tryst with an underage escort but are still playing for the national team without so much as a murmur. football and the guardian of the nations morals should be like that separate.