Wayne's right not to build bridges

AFTER Wayne Bridge called time on his England career last week, I was beginning to wonder whether the left-back had a spine.

But he proved he was no invertebrate by refusing to shake John Terry’s hand despite all the do-gooders saying he should rise above it and be the bigger man.

Fair play to Bridge for not buckling under the intense gaze of the media and letting that dopey love-rat think he was in the clear.

There are certain lines you are not supposed to cross if you are in a “bro-mance” and, for me, Terry committed one of the cardinal sins of bloke-law.

That rule is never shack up with your best pal’s ex-girlfriend, especially if she is the mother of his child.

Seeing her secretly behind his wife’s back was rotten enough, but not to have the decency to ask Bridge permission to see her “underwear collection” was outrageous.

Laughably, Terry was supposed to be helping patch up their relationship, but Bridge must be wondering how long dear John had fancied his ex-missus.

And besides, what did Terry think was going to happen?

Or has he headed too many footballs for his pea-sized brain to realise the fall-out that would follow?

He’s lost the captaincy, which he should never been given in the first place, and that seems to be the only penalty he has paid.

Bridge, on the other hand, has been dragged into the spotlight, been the butt of many jokes, plenty of jeers, and now his last chance of going to the World Cup is over

.Why would you want to shake Terry’s hand after that? I would have wanted to shake him by the throat given half the chance.

And one final point, Terry responded to Craig Bellamy’s jibe about his behaviour off the field by saying people in “glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones”.

Well, there’s a difference here. We all know that Bellamy is an irritating wind-up merchant because what you see is what you get.

Terry, on the other hand, tried to portray a clean-cut image using the England captaincy to fool us into thinking he was a decent sort of fellow.

But too many misdemeanours have since shattered that facade in a sport that has become polluted with greed and indecency.

Can anyone clear up the game’s battered image? I’ll certainly shake the hand of the man who can.