Terry will turn his attention to leading Chelsea to victory over United in Moscow tomorrow.
LONDON: Chelsea defender John Terry has vowed to give Rio Ferdinand a week to forget by beating Manchester United in the Champions League final and then reclaiming the England captaincy.
Terry lost the England armband when Fabio Capello opted to rotate the captaincy ahead of next season’s World Cup qualifiers.
United centreback Ferdinand captained England for their last match against France, but Chelsea skipper Terry is determined to win back the honour for next week’s friendly against the US.
“I am disappointed with what has happened. I want the armband and my England place back. Maybe a performance in this final would go a long way to getting those things back,” Terry told the Sun.
“But Rio has been a different class this year and particularly since he was made captain against France.
“We have seen a world-class player at the top of his game and, as a centrehalf looking on, I would say he has been awesome.
“But I want to get out there and prove I am the right man for the England job.”
First Terry will turn his attention to leading Chelsea to victory over United in Moscow today.
Terry knows how much a first European Cup success would mean to the club he joined as a trainee back in 1997.
“I’ve seen the changes over the years and I don’t think people realise how important this is for Chelsea,” he said.
“It means the world to me to be in the final, it is an achievement in itself. But beyond that I want to get my hands on the trophy. I’m desperate to do it.”
Whether Ferdinand retains the England captaincy or not, he feels he has already delivered the perfect response to critics who claimed he was wasting his career.
Ferdinand was widely criticised after he was handed a eight-month suspension for missing a drugs test fours years ago, as well as being booed by United fans angry at his drawn-out contract talks.
But he has earned respect for his fine displays at the heart of United’s defence this season, winning a new five-year contract last week.
“I knew when I signed my last contract in 2005 I had to change people’s opinions of me,” he said. “I think I’ve done that.
“The worst time was being booed by our own supporters. Circumstances were not great at the time.
“Also I was always associated with the ‘bling’ culture. But whoever knows me knows that, for the best part of six years, I haven’t been into bling.
“Ok, I like a nice watch, drive a nice car and wear nice clothes. But being bling means spending money on willy-nilly things, having no respect for the game and it was the sort of thing I was accused of. To me that is unwarranted.” — AFP
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