John Terry: Marmite’s dream but a mother’s nightmare

A slogan that can’t be argued with: You either love it or hate it. And it’s true; no one sits on the fence when it comes to Marmite. Some consume it by the bucket load, and for others, even the name causes a reaction in the body forcing it to recoil in disgust.

If by chance the marketing gurus from Marmite were looking for an icon who encapsulates their renowned slur, look no further than John Terry. For many the mention of his name is swiftly followed by an expletive, some even go as far to fabricate him using YouTube. For the rest, he is a footballer and the conversation ends there. There is no character assassination, no dressing down of the man’s morals; as long as he’s leading his Chelsea and England teammates with gusto what else matters. To the masses, he’s still a loved man.

Unfortunately Terry’s endeavours go a little deeper than being a good comparison to a sandwich filler’s punch line. But despite, I imagine, countless meetings with Chelsea’s media moguls it appears he hasn’t worked that out yet. You might like Marmite, you might not, ultimately it doesn’t matter. Regrettably, the reasons for not liking Terry do matter. The ever growing list of alleged (because he denies any wrongdoing) moralistic faux pas needs to stop. He mustn’t forget the nation’s youth dote on his every word, mimic every action. He mustn’t forget that his job doesn’t end when he retires to his multi-million pound mansion after training or the final whistle blows on Saturday afternoon. Every move, every text, every drink, every foul mouth tirade caught on camera is scrutinised.

His latest incident involving a supposed racist remark aimed in the direction of QPR’s Anton Ferdinand, younger brother of his England teammate Rio, is a prime example of Big Brother in action. It wasn’t until a YouTube clip posted hours later that this snowstorm even surfaced. Of course if Terry is found guilty he must lose the England armband. But won’t the damage have already been done? Won’t the mothers be wishing their son or daughter didn’t want to be him? Because now Terry’s apparent slip of the tongue is reverberating around school corridors and playing fields while this investigation rages on. If only one child is heard imitating Chelsea’s leader the world is worse for it. And the same goes for any other copycat behaviour from his past; I say again, alleged misdemeanours. Terry and the rest of his professional sporting fraternity must clean up their act or risk poisoning the next generation of superstars, sporting or otherwise. Newton’s third law states: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Let’s hope this only applies to science.

The finger can’t just be pointed at Terry; the last few months have seen a relentless conveyer belt of off and on-field mishaps. Household names across football, cricket and rugby have reasons not to be proud, sparking a conversation that goes way beyond the ifs buts and maybes. Are the icons, that every kid shines a light to, undoing all that is good about sport? Perhaps that’s the headline of my next instalment.

Mr Marmite may have found the brand its perfect ambassador (of course he’s not perfect, he’d be a horrendous figurehead) but unless Terry’s tainted reputation takes a sharp upturn there will be plenty more scenarios that mirror this allegation – and the world will be worse for it.

Whether he is guilty or not is immaterial, the damage has already been done – just ask the mothers.