John Terry maximum fine for a conviction for his alledged offences will be £2,500. The cost of investigating, additional policing, court costs, prosecution costs will be in between £120,000 and £150,000. John is not even turning up today. John Terry gets paid £100k a week. Tell me who is being punsished here?
Actually in all seriousness the John Terry thing is bad for national security. Logically speaking Britain has never been so vulnerable to an Invasion as it is today. The real Army are busy and the English Defence League (who were useless remember at protecting us from the riots because they didn't involve immigrants or Muslims) are in dissaray over their leader John Terry's impending £5 fine. Even the Barmy Army are in Pakistan. Unless the Men Of Eltham fancy dusting off their capes then we are done for. And it will all be John Terry's fault. Why? Why did he have to start dabbling in Racism? Why couldn't he of just been content with raping Wayne Bridge?
Are you suggesting making fines a percentage of income? Think they have something like that in Finland/Sweden. Probably Finland as I remember the story of the head of Nokia being fined a huge amount of money for speeding.
They actually do it here. If a company, for example spills paint in the river, and kills the fishies, it is strict liability, the HSE prosecute and the courts fine or can imprison directors. They will want to see the compnaies balance sheets and will set a fine accordingly. This prosecotion of Terry is a sham. Even if found guilty the public purse will be out of pocket. He will not be asked to pay the costs of the prosecution-only those costs that are reasonable-whcic mean prosecution costs and then they are usually set or awarded as a percentage. A five day case in july in a magistrates court with expert witnesses like Jose Mourinio and the like will not be cheap and WE the tax payer get lumbered. If the CPS want to prove Terry is a C... then why don't they ask Wayne Bridge
if only John Terry was a company If he's found guilty, I'd say the FA will run through a much tougher fine straightaway
Whilst this is ongoing, do you think Terry should be allowed to represent England? I know it's not guilty till proven otherwise but what kind of message does it give if he can represent our nation at the Euros. I just don't know if I want him playing for my country.
This whole saga is a disgrace. Regardless of whether Terry is good enough for the England team - and his past peccadiloes aside - he should be able to continue with his job until the law says otherwise. If he is found guilty, throw the book at him. Until then, he is an innocent man. Anyway, how is it that Diane Abbott is still able to hold her position as an MP? Double standards, methinks! Personally, I believe Morrison and Taylor should be the England centre-back pairing. Honestly.
John Terry won't be facing trial for racial abuse until after Euro 2012. So he's free to lead his country into Poland. Just like his hero did. ...couldn't help it.
PEA, i got to disagree with you but please hear me out. innocent until proven guilty indeed. however, in most professions if you have a charge hanging over you, you are suspended immediately. the more you carry authority and are deemed to represent others, the more critical pre-emptive action becomes. (captain of England fits into this pretty well i think) diane abbott is a slight on our parliament, i agree. but i dont see the connection to JT if i was to get in any kind of trouble, even a civil action, id be immediately held to account by my professional body. also would be suspended from work. and i dont claim to represent the hopes and aspirations of 65M people!
Ponders, as much as I dislike the reputation of John Terry (like most of us on here I don't know the facts merely the media spin), I have to agree with you that he is innocent until proven guilty and we, without the full knowledge of the facts which will be laid before the court should not try to sit in judgement on the information provided by the media. John Terry has known Rio and Anton for many years it is possible he has previously had a friendly basis of insult with both of them - we don't know, why this has blown up when it has. That is what the expensive court room will decide. If this has resulted from a genuine racist hatred then he will get what he deserves one way or another in the form of lasting reputation damage. If it has been blown out of all proportion by the QPR media machine for their own ends, then we will have borne the cost of his reputation being salvaged. Either way, we are not in a position to pre judge and you are right to point this out. However, I find it cynical that the case cannot be put into the legal timetable until after the Euro's. That suggests other forces at work other than the pure process of law.
Calydon As you have pointed out and I agree, the timing of the case is difficult to swallow. Like you if I got into trouble in my profession I to would be suspended and unable to work until the matter was resolved, guilty or innocent. However, I am 58 and have been qualified for more years than I care to remember. John Terry is 31 and probably has four or five more years on a career which is time limited. For me that is one reason why he should not be suspended immediately. That the process of law should be applied in an appropriate timescale I would agree, but we have to give a thought to the damage an unproven allegation could do this type of employment. Over the years I have seen reputations damaged publicly by the media on unfounded rumour for which they never apologise and there have been some football players and managers amongst them. The basic principle of innocent until proven guilty should remain and where inncocence is found the punishment of the court on the contempt in the media for this principle should result in more than just a public enquiry.
I'm sorry but what self respecting judge would put the FA before the law of the land? unless it was a stitch up. The tail now wags the dog. This is not about racism but the media trying to salavage its reputation. The rags hasve spent the last 5 months trying to justify why its perfectly acceptable to hack the phones of murdered schoolgirls and now they want us to support this public crucifixion of a dick. JT is the most hated man in the land way before he called anyone a naughty name. Its going to costs hundreds of thousands to get a non result which WE have to pay. Nobody doubts that JT is a spoon. His missus even thinks he is a poke, making him a racist hardly makes much difference. The FA and the media are spending this money to satisfy who?