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John Terry refuses to shake hands with FA Chairman David Bernstein

By on April 19, 2013
Terry refused to shake hands with FA Chairman David Bernstein

Terry refused to shake hands with FA Chairman David Bernstein

Chelsea center-back John Terry has reopened English football’s wounds, after refusing to shake hands with FA Chairman at a high-profile Uefa event.  Terry showed his lingering anger at Bernstein, who was instrumental in the decision to strip the thirty-two-year-old of his England captaincy after Terry was accused of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand in a Premier League match last season.

Bernstein sought to greet a group of Chelsea players minutes before the ceremonial handing over of the Champions League trophy ahead of Wembley’s final and after shaking hands with some of the other Chelsea players in the group, Terry, while being filmed by multiple television cameras, refused Bernstein’s handshake offer.

Terry admitted to snubbing Bernstein, when being asked about the indecent by a broadcaster.  “Listen, it’s a difficult one for me,” Terry said.  “Obviously he was the one who spoke about me in the court case and said things I don’t want to talk about on air. It’s probably a subject that we should maybe just avoid.”

As Bernstein did not appear in the criminal court case in which Terry was cleared of all charges following the Englishman being accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, it is assumed that he was talking about the FA disciplinary hearing that took place after the FA pursued their own case against Terry (which Bernstein took a big part in).  Terry was found guilty by the independent panel, was banned for four matches, and was fined £220,000.  Although appearing in Euro 2012, afterwards Terry retired from international football due to the indecent.

Bernstein did admit that his relation ship with Terry was “a little distant”, but mostly tried to shrug off the incident. “I didn’t notice anything, my relationships with everyone in here are really fantastic so I didn’t notice a thing. I think we should talk about more positive things than that sort of nonsense,” he said.

“I’m not really terribly concerned to be absolutely honest. “I’ve got other things to think about in my last few months; I’ve got other priorities.”

The indecent comes with just over a year before Terry’s contract with Chelsea ends, and due to Chelsea’s policy of leaving behind aging players, Terry has acknowledged that it is not certain whether the contract will be renewed.  There is increasing doubt that the contract will be renewed, with the Englishman only starting three matches for Chelsea so far this season.  Despite that, Terry recently said that he accepted manager Rafa Benitez’s rotation policy .

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.