John Terry and the Predicament of Englishness: Ambivalence and Nostalgia in the Premier League Era

Abstract

This article examines media discourse surrounding the Chelsea and England footballer John Terry and argues that his iconicity embodies multiple anxieties about Englishness and English football in the era of neoliberalism. In a nostalgic culture in search of ‘traditional’ English heroes, Terry is celebrated for his physicality and traditionally ‘English’ style of play; yet his off-field behaviour is seen to be both emblematic and symptomatic of a celebrity culture considered to betray the values coded as English in football history. Taking Terry's dilemma as a starting point, this article historicizes the rise of footballers as celebrities; examines widespread anxiety about the loss of the typically English, noble working-class footballer; and interrogates the problems of thinking about sporting icons of Englishness without recourse to the dominant nostalgic mode.