Feb 05

Hull City’s Craig Fagan has no intention of taunting Wayne Bridge

• Defender set to play first game since John Terry scandal broke
• Hull striker also admits surprise over Rio Ferdinand ban

The Hull City forward Craig Fagan has vowed not to “cross the line” by taunting Wayne Bridge about his recent off-field turmoil should the pair go up against each other today.

The England left-back Bridge is expected to return to the Manchester City side for the visit to the KC Stadium following a spell out injured, during which allegations surfaced of an affair between his former partner and ex-Chelsea team-mate John Terry.

Should he play on Humberside, Bridge could well be up against Fagan, provided the Tigers’ forward keeps his place on the right wing. Fagan, however, says he would not dare use the recent off-field headlines to gain a psychological advantage over the defender.

“At the end of the day he’s going to be in the spotlight but I’m sure his manager wouldn’t put him in if he wasn’t 100% right,” said Fagan. “Obviously I don’t want to get involved in any of that.

“I wouldn’t even dare mention it to the guy, to be honest. I think that’s crossing the line a bit. If he does play, then fair play to him.”

Fagan also argued Rio Ferdinand’s case after the Manchester United defender’s suspension for elbowing him recently. Ferdinand is serving a four-game ban by the Football Association for apparently lashing out at Fagan at Old Trafford but the Hull striker doubts the England centre-half was being malicious.

“I was blocking him from marking Anthony Gardner and at the time I didn’t think it was an elbow, I thought I just got pushed,” said Fagan.

“It wasn’t until the next day that I heard he was going in front of the FA so it was a bit bizarre. He gave me his shirt after the game and stuff like that, so I don’t think there was any malice in it.”

Fagan’s role is one of a number of selection headaches for the Hull manager, Phil Brown, today, with the recent signing Amr Zaki pushing for a start up front and Seyi Olofinjana returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Brown is delighted to have a selection headache, however, particularly concerning the form of the 19-year-old midfielder Tom Cairney.

Cairney made his debut in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Wolves and impressed sufficiently to keep his place for Tuesday’s game with Chelsea.

The Nottingham-born youngster produced another excellent performance in the 1-1 draw with Carlo Ancelotti’s side and can have high hopes of starting again despite growing competition for places.

Though the club currently sit third from bottom in the Premier League, Brown believes the emergence of Cairney and the steady progress of fellow youngsters Liam Cooper and Mark Cullen is evidence of a positive future for the cash-strapped club.

The Hull manager said: “Tom Cairney, in the light of Jimmy Bullard’s long-term injury and one or two falling by the wayside in terms of form and then Seyi Olofinjana going to the African Nations Cup, has grabbed his chance.

“It doesn’t look like Tom needs his feet keeping on the ground. He looks like he’s taking it all in his stride.”

Brown will be without the forward Geovanni today after he suffered a minor medial ligament problem, though the Brazilian could return for the midweek trip to Blackburn.

Premier LeagueHull CityManchester Cityguardian.co.uk

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Feb 02

John Terry feels the heat, on and off the pitch | Jamie Jackson

Chelsea’s captain is starting to feel the pressure and his form is beginning to dip

As the nation’s pubs and parlours continue to agonise over the John Terry affair England’s most talked-about footballer had a rather patchy second public examination of his on-field abilities.

Terry had passed the first test calmly enough, when scoring the winning goal at Burnley on Saturday. However, Terry’s footballing cojones have never been in doubt and his late header at Turf Moor prepared us for another evening where the expectation was he would breeze through.

But he stepped out against Hull knowing he was only a potential two days away from the showdown with the England manager, Fabio Capello, which will decide if the captain’s armband continues to be worn by the boy from Barking. His potential demotion from that position, and the gaping hole it will punch in his pride, might just be starting to get through to him as the Chelsea captain had an evening he would rather forget.

The defence, which it is his primary job to shepherd, was shaky, while his own contribution, one that included a yellow card early in the second half for a clumsy challenge on Jozy Altidore, was hardly rock solid.

Capello has yet to air his views on the effect of Terry’s alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the former girlfriend of England’s reserve left-back Wayne Bridge. But it is understood that the manager is still undecided and wishes to speak first with Terry so that he can gauge his captain’s state of mind.

The Italian will also wish to establish if the very worst of this, or any future Terry scandal, is now out, following the cumulative effect of other notorious episodes, the latest of which featured Terry taking £10,000 for a tour of the Chelsea training ground – he claims the cash was given to charity.

If further revelations are to be revealed in the near future then Capello will wish to be told in advance, so he can make a fully informed judgment.

Terry, too, is thought to be undecided over his next move and is keen to know what Capello is thinking before he makes any decision. Credulity is stretched, though, when trying to imagine a man who loves leading deciding he is happy to fall on his sword.

The night in Hull began with Terry receiving the first of many regulation boos he would surely have expected as he led his team out for the warm-up. These were followed by an opening verse of Same Old Terry, Always Cheating, which was repeated throughout. Then Chelsea conceded an early corner and the defender also had to listen to Terry, Terry Where’s Your Wife?

The answer to that poser is that Toni Terry is in Dubai to escape the furore and, reportedly, considering the future of her marriage.

Apparently Terry wants to follow her to the Gulf state for crisis talks. This, though, depends on his being given permission by Chelsea, although the club are currently keeping their own counsel.

Of more concern to Mr Chelsea as he left the field would have been the flat performance of his team – who would have gone four points clear with a win last night – just as Manchester United are beginning their familiar new year challenge for the title. And Arsenal are next up at Stamford Bridge, on Sunday.

This was not a bad performance from Terry but a wobbly one, and you could sense how he needs to have his England future sorted out sooner rather than later.

Terry had been in the frame for the sloppy goal they conceded after 30 minutes. His man at corners was Anthony Gardner, and though Terry again shadowed him, when Stephen Hunt’s delivery landed between him and Michael Ballack, Steven Mouyokolo moved in to head beyond Petr Cech.

At least the first half ended with Terry, having again been asked the location of his spouse, seeing Didier Drogba equalise. That caused him to salute the travelling Chelsea support before he appeared to offer a stare and a shush at the singing Hull fans on his way back for the restart.

After Burnley on Saturday Carlo Ancelotti had dismissed questions of Terry’s leadership. “There is no discussion about this. I don’t know why you ask me this. I do not want to talk about his personal life.”

A hunch says that Capello may broadly share the same views as Ancelotti having been reared in the same country, one whose privacy laws can be described as draconian when compared to Britain’s.

On Friday we will discover how far away Capello feels he is from his Italian homeland.

John TerryChelseaHull CityPremier LeagueJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk

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Dec 27

Fear of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reaction drove me on, says Wayne Rooney

• ‘Manager would not have been too pleased,’ says United striker
• ‘It’s not a nice feeling,’ recalls Rooney after making error

Wayne Rooney admitted the fear of incurring Sir Alex Ferguson’s wrath had been the catalyst for his match-winning performance in the 3-1 defeat of Hull City that saw Manchester United close the gap on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.

Rooney opened the scoring but was then guilty of a misjudged back-pass that led to Craig Fagan making it 1-1 just before the hour. The England international’s instinctive reaction was to put his head in his hands and look across to Ferguson in the dug-out but the striker redeemed himself by forcing Andy Dawson into putting into his own net and then brilliantly set up Dimitar Berbatov for the final goal.

“It’s a relief,” Rooney said. “When they got their equaliser it was a mistake by myself. It’s the first time that’s ever happened to me and it’s not a nice feeling. I didn’t want to let down the lads though I was more worried about what the manager might say. But thankfully we got the win, which I’m pleased about because the manager would not have been too pleased.”

Rooney now has 13 league goals for the season, making him the joint leading scorer with Didier Drogba and Jermain Defoe, but it was the way the striker responded to his error that most impressed Ferguson.

“He was a threat all game; his penetration behind their back line was very good,” the United manager said. “Yes, he made a mistake with a wayward ball for their goal but that was his one bad moment and otherwise I thought he was exceptional. He’s a natural winner and he’s always got that determination to do well. He would have been sicker than anyone that he made a mistake but he rectified it in a nice way.”

The win moves United to within two points of Chelsea in what Rooney described as a “mad” title race because of the way the top teams were regularly dropping points. “It’s looking more and more like it’s going to be a really tight league,” Ferguson said.

“It’s certainly different because we are seeing some unusual results. Experience will come into it. The team that steers clear of injuries will also have an advantage. Other than that, if you make mistakes in this league you are going to get punished. If we can eradicate mistakes we have a great chance.”

Premier LeagueWayne RooneySir Alex FergusonManchester UnitedHull CityDaniel Taylorguardian.co.uk

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