John Terry Left Stunned After Ex-England Teammate Ignores Him on Holiday
John Terry has admitted that he was disappointed when one of his former England teammates completely ignored him while on holiday.
Seven years after announcing his retirement from professional football, Terry is still widely considered to be one of the Premier League and England's greatest-ever players.
For club, the defender won five Premier League titles with Chelsea and the Champions League in 2012.
Meanwhile for country, Terry made his debut in 2003 and went on to make 78 caps for England, playing as part of the famous 'Golden Generation' that included the likes of Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.
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But it appears that he isn't exactly on good terms with all of his former England teammates, as he's admitted that one them ignored him when they bumped into each other on holiday in Dubai.
During his time in England's back line, Terry forged a strong centre-back partnership with Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand, making 35 appearances together for their country.
However, their relationship massively deteriorated after Terry was involved in a high-profile racism row with the United defender's brother Anton.
Back in 2011, Anton Ferdinand claimed that Terry used racist language towards him during a Premier League meeting between QPR and Chelsea at Loftus Road.
Following a trial, Terry was cleared by the Crown Prosecution Service but charged by the FA, who hit him with a six-figure fine and a four-match ban and stripped him of the England captaincy for the second time in his career.
The incident has clearly left Terry and Rio on bad terms, despite the Chelsea legend claiming that he has since tried to reconcile with his former teammate while the pair were on holiday.
"Since then I've tried to speak to Rio, who doesn't want to talk to me at all. I've seen him on the beach in Dubai and he refused to speak to me. I think it could have been addressed and dealt with a lot better if I'm honest," he told Simon Jordan on the Up Front podcast.
"I tried to make contact with Anton that evening after the game," he added. "I tried to make contact with Rio and their agent after the game and I basically got shut down instantly from all of them.
"I knew Anton, we were mates, not socially, but we always got on well, obviously got on well with Rio. We could've done something that was more powerful than what come about in the end and that's my disappointment."
Recently, Rio himself has addressed the rift with Terry, stating that he's not sure if he would ever interview his former England partner unless he settled things with Anton first.
Years after the incident, Anton claimed that he had reached out to Terry to have a discussion about the incident live on a BBC documentary about racism in football, but the offer was refused.
The ex-Sunderland and QPR defender has also refused claims that the ex-England captain has tried to reach out to him.
In 2021, he said on social media: "I never received a call personally from JT prior to the documentary or during the process.
"As I stated on the doc, the door is still open to have a conversation if he’s serious about racism in football & wanting to create positive change. Call me then JT?"
Topics: John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, England, Football, Premier League, Racism
Ben McCrum