John Terry is back as captain of England's soccer team and acknowledges he's not ''everybody's cup of tea.''
The Chelsea defender was stripped of the captaincy in February 2010 after allegations he had an affair with teammate Wayne Bridge's former girlfriend. Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand took over as captain. Bridge wound up quitting international soccer.
With Ferdinand injured, England coach Fabio Capello appointed Terry captain for Saturday's European championship qualifier against Wales.
''I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea as I've read and I've seen, but it was the manager's decision,'' Terry said Tuesday. ''Respect for the players around me and the manager has always been there.''
The scandal rocked the England team leading to the World Cup in South Africa, where the team was eliminated in the second round. Terry says he ''accepted the decision'' on losing his captaincy, but ''it didn't mean I agreed with it.''
Terry said the manager spoke to the team on the field Tuesday about his return as captain.
''Nobody said a word to the manager,'' he said. ''Nobody said a word to me.''
Terry said Ferdinand called to congratulate him and they spoke by phone for 10 minutes. Terry said it was a ''very nice touch and goes to show what a great man Rio is.''
''He was naturally disappointed, but said the most important thing was to keep winning,'' Terry added.
Injuries restricted Ferdinand to four appearances for England as captain. He missed the entire World Cup and is set to miss the rest of this season.
Terry said he met with Capello and general manager Franco Baldini on the day he lost his captaincy.
''I looked them both in the eye and said, 'You'll get nothing less from me in training and on the field,''' he said.
Terry says he is wiser after all that happened.
''Maybe the manager looked into that as well, that I had kept my head down and concentrated on playing well for club and country,'' he said.
