It took some nerve to appear before the television cameras, radio microphones and written media at the team hotel, especially when he could have left it until Friday for the more traditional pre-match press conference in Cardiff.

By agreeing to put himself up three days earlier, he sacrificed himself for the benefit of the team. 'I want to get this out of the way and draw a line under it,' he said, and for that he deserves credit.

He had to face some tough, if inevitable questions. Not least one that concerned the alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel. Had he seen Wayne Bridge now that his former friend and colleague was back living and playing in the south? Had any attempt been made to patch things up?

He said 'no' but there was a subtle change in Terry's expression that was difficult to read. It was hard to tell if he was about to burst into tears or explode with rage, diving across the table to throttle the journalist who had dared mention the other Bridge in his life. But it also marked the end of the briefing, with Terry rising from his seat and leaving the room.

Certain things he said still don't stack up. 'I never tried to cash in on anything,' he said. 'There was an issue with the statement that went out initially, that had nothing to do with me. It was a company that didn't represent me. I've never cashed in. I'm not the best looking guy anyway, so people aren't going to want me spread all over the place. But I've never tried to cash in on the England captaincy. I'm not that kind of character to cash in.'

The evidence of the past has suggested otherwise and those chaps at Riviera Entertainment who circulated that original email, offering the England captain for hire at the right price, might argue that they were instructed to act for Terry in an official capacity.

The fact that he was so unrepentant, so intransigent, was also a little troubling. Did he not take any responsibility for forcing Capello to change his skipper just four months before the start of the World Cup? 'I understand,' he said. 'As I said to the manager and Franco Baldini at the time. I obviously understand and stuff.

'But when I sat there... we talked through stuff. People say it was a six-minute meeting but it was 10 or 15 minutes and we spoke about stuff openly and honestly, which will hopefully stay private between us three. I accepted their decision. But it doesn't mean to say I agreed with it and I never will. That's me being very proud and having been honest with them. Then they made their decision, which I didn't agree with.'

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