How Will The FA Ruling On Terry Impact Chelsea?

It’s unbelievable. The FA is beyond a joke. Enough has been said already on the case and the outcome so let’s just focus on its impact for now. We shall be without Terry for four games. How big of an effect will this have on us?

Well, first and foremost he is our undisputed captain. There are others who are capable of taking up this role in the squad (Lampard, Cech, and pretty much our whole starting back four when Terry isn’t playing) but nobody motivates and leads the team like him. It is his presence in the team and at the back that will be missed the most. He knows when to give encouragement and he knows when to give a player a kick in the back-side. I might also add that he is very good at controlling the David Luiz. When he is an erratic kind of mood, which is most of the time, Terry is good at calming him down and making sure he doesn’t do anything, shall we say, uncalled for.

Player for player, however, I don’t think we shall be that much weaker. One quality English centre back will essentially be replaced by another in the form of Gary Cahill. Should he be needed, we also have Ivanovic, who can take up that position with Azpilicueta (or Dave as I like to call him) filling in at right-back. The fact that we have so much individual defensive quality is why the loss of such a strong leader, who gives us direction at the back, will impact us the most, rather than the loss of his talent as a footballer.

Also relevant is who we play during this period. So let’s take a look... Ummm, Norwich at home: ok not too bad, we may have rested him then to give others a game anyway, so we should cope here. Tottenham away: bollocks. Manchester United at home: bollocks. Swansea away: a difficult match but we should cope.

Tottenham and United. There aren’t many worse games for him to miss really. These are the games in which people like John Terry step up and show why they are considered to be one of the best in the world and why, in this case, he is the captain of the team. These are the occasions where we need him and so, yes, he will be missed during his ban, if these are the games that he loses. It would be different if these teams weren’t included in the ban, and instead he missed games against “weaker” sides.

I haven’t included Arsenal for tomorrow because the ban will not have come into affect by then. Terry is still waiting for the opportunity to appeal, which will only come once the FA have compiled a report on why he was charged. Early indications / rumours seem to suggest he won’t appeal however, maybe because he thinks there is no point, maybe because he thinks he has got off lightly (which he very much has when you forget everything but the fact he has been charged with racial abuse). If this is the case then it is likely he will begin to serve his ban with Norwich and it will continue from there. If he does appeal however then the case shall continue, at which point it is hard to say what games he will miss.

How will this charge affect his game in the meantime though? I don’t think it will affect him at all. He has shown in the past how good he is at putting aside off-the-pitch problems to give his all for Chelsea. In this manner he is a perfect professional. After he was stripped of England captaincy he went on to score for Chelsea and put in a MOTM performance in the next game (it may have been after the revelations about him and Bridge’s misses came out, can’t quite remember, but this still happened either way). Even with this hanging over him, I have no doubt we will see the John Terry we always do against Arsenal. Play him!

(follow me on twitter: @cody_bound)

KTBFFH!