England fans prove too pragmatic to turn on Terry

John Terry was afforded a mixed response by the Wembley faithful as he turned out for England for the first time since being stripped of the captain's armband on account of his off-field indiscretions.

However, his manager and colleagues were quick to praise the controversial defender who had a solid, if not spectacular, performance against Egypt.

Terry himself gave a typically blunt assessment of his reception afterwards. "There were a few jeers but I can handle that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion," he stated.

And the opinion of the pundits, and fans, appears to be that, although he is not a terribly likeable person, Terry is too central to England's hopes of a good World Cup to be cast adrift.

Or, as Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail puts it: "The desire for a moral stand is largely related to how it will affect the starting XI."

"The crowd were split, maybe marginally against him at first, when a nervy pass went astray, before an all together more unnerving enemy appeared in the form of lively Egyptians, and Terry's transgressions were forgotten," he commented.

Matt Dickinson in the Times said that if Terry, or his critics, had expected Wembley to become a "fiery crucible of damnation", they were wide of the mark.

"If this was as bad as the stick is going to get, he has got away lightly compared with David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole, the Nevilles and a long list of victims subjected to abuse from their own supporters. For every fan who jeered Terry's name, there were others trying to drown them out," he wrote.

After the match Fabio Capello agreed that "this was one of the most important games for him after the history of what happened off the pitch", but thanked the fans for their forebearance. "Thank you to the crowd because they supported the team and John Terry," he said.

The man captaining England instead of Terry was Steven Gerrard, and he commented: "I thought John was superb tonight. He handled everything well and he showed he is a fantastic player." ·