John Terry faces a Tiger Woods-style PR disaster

England football captain John Terry is experiencing a fall from grace to rival that of Tiger Woods after it emerged that he had an affair with the partner of his former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge.
 
Terry, a father-of-three, is now facing a public relations meltdown as sponsors rush to distance themselves from him. Furthermore, he could be stripped of the England captaincy, just five months before the World Cup, and his wife, Toni Poole, is said to be considering a divorce.
 
What Terry (pictured above with Bridge) did to deserve this attention was have an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, a French-born underwear model who, until December, was Bridge's long-term girlfriend. Not only was Bridge a fellow England and Chelsea player, but he and Vanessa were guests at Terry's wedding.
 
Last week Terry took out a High Court injunction to prevent details of the affair becoming public. But after the banning order was lifted on Friday, the press went to town, with the News of the World revealing that Terry even got Perroncel pregnant and paid for her to have an abortion.
 
Although Bridge and Perroncel did not officially split until December, their relationship had apparently hit the rocks in the summer, six months after Bridge was transferred from Chelsea to Manchester City.

According to the News of the World, Terry had often flirted with Perroncel on footballers' nights out. But when Bridges headed north to Manchester, Terry - a previous winner of the "father of the year" award, though back in 2005 - began an affair with Perroncel. Soon after, the 33-year-old model became pregnant and Terry paid for an abortion. After attending the clinic where the termination was carried out, he gave her £20,000 "to cheer her up", the paper reported.
 
Terry, who earns £150,000 a week as Chelsea skipper, now faces being dropped by his sponsors.

The player had cited his sponsorship deals when taking out the High Court injunction. Lifting the gagging order on Friday, Mr Justice Tugendhat commented that "the nub of the applicant's complaint is to protect his reputation, in particular with sponsors". But he decided that was not a sufficient reason to ban publication of the allegations.
 
The player is the face of sportswear brand Umbro and also works with Samsung. Neither would comment on their deals with him, but a Swedish betting company, Svenska Spel, which has used Terry in the last, said it would not work with him again.

The player also advertises the computer-gaming series Pro Evolution Soccer and, as England captain, has a relationship with the national team's sponsors, Nationwide.  A spokesman for the building society described the revelations as "private matter".

This is not the first time Terry has been caught playing away from home. In 2005 he apologised and pledged to remain faithful to Poole - then his fiancée - after a series of dalliances. Shortly afterwards he was caught in a "sexual act" with a 17-year-old fan in his car.

He's not yet in Tiger Woods territory, but the fact that the latest affair was with a team-mate's partner means England manager Fabio Capello faces a tough decision over whether to sack him as captain. According to some reports, he may even ask Bridge, a key member of the England squad, for his opinion.

While Terry is a strong leader on the pitch, his off-field antics have prompted several commentators to say the captaincy is untenable.

To make matters worse, Perroncel is in talks with the notorious publicist Max Clifford - which suggests she could be about to add to the footballer's embarrassment by spilling the beans on the minutiae of their relationship. She is certainly a woman in demand - on Sunday her website had crashed. ·