England v Sweden: defiant John Terry insists he will never give up the captaincy

Quite something when you consider that on Tuesday night he could not even count on unanimous support inside a half-full Wembley.

Terry has long been the most divisive of England captains. Against Sweden he led out the team for the 34th time, equalling Alan Shearer’s record, but not for the first time in an England shirt he could not rely on universal approval.

Until the poppy row clouded the build-up to last weekend’s game against world champions Spain, Terry’s selection and retention as captain in the wake of the Ferdinand allegations was the dominant issue of this international break.

The synthetic remembrance debate was timely for Terry and the Football Association, sparing both a week of interrogation as to the appropriateness of a man under police investigation for allegedly racially abusing an opponent leading the national team.

It was apparent it had not been forgotten by the time Terry appeared at the head of England’s experimental side.

Tuesday night’s crowd, at 48,876 the lowest since the stadium reopened in 2007, was boosted by the presence of a high proportion of children, many of whom were armed with inflatable “clacking” sticks handed out by sponsors to confect an atmosphere.

Together they made a tinny racket as the teams were announced, but the booing of Terry’s name was clearly audible beneath the din, a bass-note reminder of the dismal allegations against him.

With the police investigation continuing, Terry is judged innocent until proven guilty. But his admission that he did indeed use a phrase that sandwiched “black” with two sexual expletives has eroded sympathy for the idea that he is a man traduced.

Context is everything, Terry argued when he appeared before the FA disciplinary body investigating the allegations, claiming that he only swore to correct the perception he had already employed the phrase pejoratively. He will tell the police the same, if he has not already been interviewed.

For many England supporters however, both last night and on Saturday, when there was the jeering amid applause as he warmed up, the context of Terry’s past misdemeanours frames their willingness to believe him.

In an increasingly parochial club game plenty will boo Terry because of his performances as an outstanding leader and centre-half for Chelsea. Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard have suffered for club allegiance and public perception as much as for their performance in the national shirt.

Club allegiances have bafflingly been brought to bear on the racism row, and not only that involving Terry. The Manchester United captain Patrice Evra’s allegation that Liverpool forward Luis Suárez repeatedly racially abused him six weeks ago has descended in some quarters into a depressing proxy for club rivalry.

The notion that a club badge matters more to some supporters than respect for the colour of a man’s skin is deeply noxious, and Terry is too long in the tooth to expect the fact that he had the Three Lions on his breast last night would spare him barracking.

Not that it appears to bother him. “No chance,” he shot back when asked after the game if he had considered standing down from the captaincy and the squad.

“I would never step down, this is something I have dreamed since I was a boy when I watched England games. I have worked hard to get here and to be England captain. I am proud to lead the side out. The fans were great with me tonight. I can’t ask for any more than that.”

Such defiance has been Terry’s USP and it was on display again as he puffed out his chest at the playing of the national anthem. When the television close-up came, as he will have known it would, he was singing with the flinty focus that counts as his game-face.

He started assuredly, having little to do but adjust and readjust his stockings to above-the-knee length as England dominated. He was comfortable in principally marking Johan Elmander, a lumpy target man familiar to Terry from his seasons at Bolton Wanderers and lacking the pace to expose him.

There was a moment of alarm following England’s first-half goal when over-elaboration saw him turned by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and grateful first to a fortuitous hand-ball, undetected by the officials, and then to defensive partner Gary Cahill, for relief.

It will take better and more dynamic forward lines than Sweden offered to disturb Terry’s on-field equilibrium. Given the furore that has surrounded him this last fortnight, goodness knows what could disturb his self-assuredness off it.