Terry Trial has Tarnished English Football says PFA Chief

Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor believes that the reputation of English football has been blemished by revelations made at the trial of John Terry this week. 

The Chelsea captain was found not guilty of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, however Taylor is concerned that the content of the exchanges between the players may have had damaging effects on the Respect campaign. 

He said:”It has been an unedifying process and the game has been damaged as a result of the dirty linen being washed in public.

“I now want to see an improvement in the Respect campaign. It is not just the line between what is banter and what is illegal, so much of what we have heard this week needs to be cut out.

“The players are role models and everything now gets picked up in a match on television. These insults and this language leads to things that should not be said.”

The FA have yet to conclude their investigation into the incident, which took place during the West London derby last October.