Shamed former England captain lets his football do the talking

Whatever your opinion of John Terry, it's hard to question his passion and effort once he crosses the white line and enters the field of play.

The Chelsea skipper's alleged antics off the field are well documented but he has got his head down and got on with playing in his trademark 'wear your heart on your sleeve' fashion.

Terry has not let the media attention or opposite fans' abuse affect him and, but for the odd blip here and there, he has slowly made people talk about his football once again.

England fans showed their disapproval in the early stages of the recent friendly match with Egypt, but the boos soon subsided and eventually became cheers as Terry put in another consummate performance.

Terry is one of those players that the average football fan would not instantly pick as their favourite to have a post-match pint with, but he would feature highly on a list of players they would like to see leading their team out.

Chelsea are riding high in the Premier League, despite the unconvincing antics of goalkeeper Petr Cech and more recently Hilario, and Terry is largely responsible for their success.

Since the turn of the year, Terry has added long overdue attacking points to his 13 clean sheets.

He has five assists and two goals to his name in all competitions, including a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win over Stoke in the FA Cup quarter-final last time out.

Still competing on three fronts, Chelsea will be relying on Terry's leadership skills in the coming weeks, starting this weekend at home to London rivals West Ham.