A Primer for Capello : The Offside Rules Explained to John Terry?

A Primer for Capello : The Offside Rules Explained to John Terry?

Divorce & Litigation Support expert Julian Bray comments:

Unless you have a clear and open understanding with your wife, in effect been given a pink ticket to play away (by the same token the wife can also do likewise) and/or you have a cast iron pre-nuptial agreement in place (the Courts are however NOT obliged to abide by the terms of any pre-nup!), modern divorce in the High Court Family Division, all comes down to making financial provision for your children, ensuring they and the Mother have a roof over their head until the children finish full time education.

Extra marital bedroom boogies - fantasy or real, don’t by themselves account for much in Family Court these days, but they do SELL NEWSPAPERS, ATTRACT VIEWERS! The damage this may cause the England Football team is one of the prime concerns for England Manager Fabio Capello, in 12 minutes say an exchange of 1,000 words, John Terry went from Hero to Zero or in other words lost the kudos of the Captains Arm Band and according to reports the confidence of his fellow footballers.


However you look at it John Terry is a prize prat, he has had a number of fairly well documented 'on the side' relationships during this marriage and his wife has chosen to turn a blind eye. With nods and winks in the dressing room, and probably keeping score on the inside of his locker; our Terry, the story goes has been careless, committed a cardinal sin.

He had unprotected sex, allegedly made his team mate Wayne Bridges' then girlfriend pregnant and according to reports, paid for the abortion and in the process managed to tip his marriage over the edge. The lady in question has said nothing but simply relies on her hired Press Agent Max Clifford and now a new appointed high-powered sports libel solicitor Christine Harris.  

Ms Christine Harris, Soliciitor

The super injunction enthusiastically obtained by John Terry through Schillings, the law firm, was in PR terms, a big mistake and a massive media public relations own goal, placing a big neon arrow over John Terrys' every move. ITV Sport have even detailed a cameraman to get extra footage of Terry at his Chelsea training ground, so the cat and mouse media game has already started.

Terry wearing a big lump of cheese around his neck and a target painted on his back as former lovers leap out of the closet to take the media schilling ( Ed: Err you mean 'shilling' in pre-decimal money! )  The sort of thing that divorce and family law solicitors simply do not usually understand, although the larger law firms are now wisely investing in litigation support PR. Something that has been in evidence in the USA for decades and specialists like me are more than happy to deliver.  


I don’t believe for one second, the former mistress and ex girlfriend of one of John Terrys ‘close’ team mates just happened to telephone Max Clifford! Max will have had his team scoping Terry and his girlfriends for a while and I suggest the approach was from Max or an associate rather than the other way round. I could be wrong but...

Let us be very clear, Max is not a PR expert, he is a highly successful Press Agent touting around stories for big sums of money anything from Freddie Starr eating hamsters (Freddie says he never did, it was a badger) to a former plump politician dancing around in football strip on his lovers bed (err Chelsea strip wasn’t it?).  

The intervention of Press Agents and redundant red top editors as meeja advisers to the hapless parties, all help run up the expenses at an alarming rate even for footballers! This also takes a lot of time and effort. The legal side once battlelines have been declared and one or both parties decide to file for divorce will also be an eye opener, John Terrys’ professional life will be cruelly distorted and he won’t be able to schedule court appearances around his football or other activities. Court dates come first, England fixtures second.

At the moment although relieved of the Captains armnband, Terry is being outwardly supported but as soon as the legal process starts and the two/ three/four/five publicity and legal teams (the wife has not announced her line up yet!) start to dish the dirt, attitudes will rapidly change possibly harden. Football being a hard nosed money generating business will quickly decide if Terry is to remain within the fold or is history. Does Mr Terry remain commercially viable or is a liability? Shareholders will have the final say but already football supporters are making their own feelings felt with sustained whistles and cat-calls every time Mr Terry touches the ball. Life can be a real bitch sometimes.

The clubs and the FA will want a quick resolution and the only way that will happen is if the wife (and the children) are financially well taken care of. Adultery is not a grounds for divorce these days but conduct is and adultery comes within this framework and more importantly Terrys conduct prior to and during the divorce process will also be taken into account by the Family Court, so the appointment of Press Agents and generic publicity support at this early stage is to my mind an expensive car crash waiting to happen, as ammunition is being needlessly provided for the other parties to use.

The money and fees paid out to press agents, law firms and Sports PR people will also have to be accounted for and it will be taken out of the overall pot and obviousdly dilute the husbands share!

So how will all this play out? As I advised the former Beatle Paul McCartney, all he really needed was two books “ Model Letters for Family Lawyers” and another on ancillary relief - the money side of family court divorce.

The Terrys have children, so an almost automatic 50 per cent of the footballers assets, money, property, pensions, sponsorship rights both in the UK and overseas will go to the wife and mother who in legal terms has endured a long marriage, the children will need a roof over their heads until finishing full time education with university that could be in place until they reach the age of 23, a time when Terrys footballing career will have been long over and just an interesting historical statistic.

So the wife will get the former matrimonial home, she will also get maintenance for the children and support payments for herself. Possibly a lump sum as well if only to buy her continuing silence! The former mistress [es] might be another matter!

And don’t think that a private confidential arrangement will suffice, the hapless footballer will be strongly advised to ensure the financial arrangements are set down as Court Orders in writing, paid like clockwork on time and if at all possible by agreement.

Mr Terry will also have dealings with the successor to the Child Support Agency who will additionally investigate the Footballers financial arrangements and working both with HM Revenue and Customs and Department of Work and Pensions, they alone will decide if the previously agreed court arrangements are in fact appropriate, something many people going through the process simply do not understand. In short, the payments tied to a complex generic computation may well increase.

So how much will Mr Terry have left at the end of the day? Rule of thumb? Probably around 30 per cent of his gross earnings, if the family lawyers are clued up in the financial department – be warned not all of them are! 50 percent of ALL the family assets, half his pension and likewise any future life insurance payouts and shareholder dividends.

Oh forgot to mention legal fees £100,000 if he behaves and gets the process completed quickly and possibly a couple of million if the petition is defended and goes from the Family Division of the High Court in Holborn to the High Court itself then £3-5 million might be the costs order of the day. 

My advice ask the wife what she wants, and if it is in the above ball park (oops sorry, no pun intended!) fast track the court order by agreement. But in any case a modest investment in a packet or two of condoms, in this case "Mates" might have been be appropriate and a far cheaper solution... I wonder what Wayne Bridge would say?  Funny old game, Innit?   


Julian Bray  All Rights Reserved