John Terry won't replace Roy Keane as ITV World Cup pundit
The Chelsea star was left out of the England squad but he won't be part of ITV's line-up either
England manager Roy Hodgson didn’t pick up the phone to get former captain John Terry on a plane to Brazil and nor, despite much media speculation, does it seem ITV will either.
The 11th-hour withdrawal of Roy Keane from the channel’s team of World Cup pundits left some suggesting that Chelsea’s Terry could be the man to fill his boots.
But ITV has kicked that suggestion into touch. “We’re very happy with the team that we’ve got, so we’ve no current plans to call in any replacements,” said a source.
Instead it’s thought that Hodgson-like, ITV will experiment with their main line-up – which includes Gordon Strachan, Patrick Vieira, Gus Poyet, Glenn Hoddle, Lee Dixon, Ian Wright, Martin O’Neill and Fabio Cannavaro – as the tournament progresses.
Keane, whose job as assistant manager with the Republic of Ireland team meant he was already unavailable for tonight’s and Saturday’s warm-up games, is now on coaching rather than Copacabana duties.
An ITV spokesman said: “Roy has been a tremendous part of our pundit team in recent years, but we fully understand his decision to concentrate wholly on his coaching. We wish him every success for the future.”
The World Cup kicks off in Brazil on Thursday 12 June
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