Would Recalling John Terry to the England Squad Really Be Such a Bad Idea?

While his frumpy, simplistic style might not make him terribly progressive, Sam Allardyce was appointed as England manager to take the team forward.

After all, they couldn’t fall any further following their dismal Euro 2016 showing. Yet the new national-team boss is seemingly set on looking backward before plotting the course ahead.

English football desperately needs a new crop of talent to freshen up what has become a distinctly stale team, yet Allardyce recently revealed he is considering handing John Terry a recall. That’s the same Terry who last played for England four years ago. The same Terry who looked set for the Chelsea exit door just a matter of months ago. The same Terry who is deemed well past his best and most likely in his final Premier League season.

“Maybe so,” Allardyce admitted when asked whether a return to the national team could be on the cards for Terry, as per Jamie Jackson of the Guardian. “I think it depends on what John said. Maybe if I get the opportunity I might have to give him a ring but until I come to that selection or that process, we’ll wait and see.”

The England manager’s confession promoted a vociferous response from fans and the media alike given Terry’s chequered past and history with the Football Association. But would his return to the national team be such a bad thing? Pushing aside the knee-jerk indignation, is there merit in the notion of bringing him back into the England fold? 

It’s not as if England are stocked with world-class central defenders. Allardyce has raw potential to mould, with the 22-year-old John Stones considered one the brightest young centre-back prospects in the European game but nobody to turn to as a ready-made back-line bedrock. It might be something of an indictment on the state of English football, but Terry is arguably still be among the best players the country has.

But what Allardyce surely wants from Terry is experience. With the quick-fire international retirements of David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and, of course, Terry himself in recent years, England have been robbed of a great deal of top-tier experience. Wayne Rooney is the only player they have who can claim to have scaled the …

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