Breaking point: John Terry's wife Toni says she wants a divorce John Terry is fighting for both his marriage and the England captaincy after a turbulent weekend of revelations about his affair with a team-mate's ex-partner.
The footballer's wife has fled their £4million home telling friends she would divorce him over his affair with lingerie model Vanessa Perroncel - her former close friend and neighbour.
And Terry, 29, was revealed to have arranged for his mistress to undergo an abortion after she became pregnant during their relationship.
There was a lack of public support for the Chelsea defender from the Football Association and senior figures in the footballing world, while Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said the affair 'called into question' his position as captain.
Terry's latest in a long list of infidelities was exposed on Friday when a High Court judge overturned an injunction forbidding publication of details of his philandering.
Football insiders said his behaviour had divided the England squad, with some arguing that he should be stripped of both the captaincy and his place in the national side.
There is a strong belief among fans that he has caused irreparable damage to England's chances of success at the World Cup in South Africa this summer.
As his 28-year-old wife Toni departed the family home in Surrey with their twin children, she told friends: 'He's humiliated me for ten years. But no more. This time I'm going to divorce him.'
Sources close to Terry said that he was continuing to deny to his wife that he had been unfaithful with Miss Perroncel.
He started the affair after Bridge, who had lived on the same estate as the Terrys, signed for Manchester City and moved to a house in Cheshire leaving his partner and mother of their three-year-old son behind.
Miss Perroncel reportedly became pregnant within weeks and friends said the termination was arranged by Terry and took place at a private clinic under clandestine circumstances in October.
She arrived and left the clinic via a back door, while the operation was reportedly delayed so Terry could attend after a training session.
When Terry finally told his wife, she immediately rang her former best friend to confront her.
A friend said: 'It was a real shouting match between the two of them. They were both ranting and swearing down the phone. But Vanessa just denied there was an affair.'
Another source said that Toni told Vanessa: 'Call yourself a friend? What sort of friend sleeps with their mate's husband?'
The £170,000-a-week Chelsea star is worth an estimated £25million with lucrative marketing and media contracts.
With Toni entitled to half of his fortune, both now and in the future, it could be the biggest-ever divorce settlement in UK sport.
Revelations: John Terry (left) on the pitch on Saturday while his lover Vanessa Perroncel (right) talks on a phone outside her house yesterdayAs further details of Terry's relationship with Miss Perroncel emerged, she spent two hours with publicist Max Clifford last night discussing how she might break her silence on the affair.
But the impact the scandal is having on the England squad was immediately apparent with reports that Bridge is understood to have told friends and family that he will not play for his country while Terry remains the captain.
Others of his team-mates have reacted with fury at Terry's behaviour, calling him 'scum' and describing his actions as 'immoral and unforgivable'.
Another said he would find it impossible to share a dressing room with Terry, while yesterday several Manchester City players showed their support for their team-mate by revealing that they were wearing T-shirts bearing the words 'Team Bridge' under their shirts.
England's vice-captain Rio Ferdinand and former Chelsea colleague Frank Lampard also phoned Bridge to offer their support.
As England manager Fabio Capello was reported to want to 'draw a line' under the affair before the Euro 2012 qualifying draw in Warsaw next Sunday, a FA insider suggested he might completely jettison Terry.
'The feeling is that Terry needs to be removed completely from the England set-up - and that means as a captain and a player,' he said. 'He may now have said goodbye to any chance of playing in the World Cup in the summer.'
The Daily Mail has learned that one of Capello's backroom staff - fellow Italian Franco Baldini - has been asked to discuss the matter with both Terry and Bridge.
Sports Minister Sutcliffe said: 'On the field John Terry is a fantastic player, but to be the captain of England you've got to have wider responsibilities for the country and clearly if these allegations are proven then it does call into question his role as England captain.'
TWO MORE STARS BEHIND THE LAW
A frenzied guessing game began yesterday after it emerged that two more Premier League footballers have used privacy laws to bar reporting of their womanising.
Lawyers for one of the sportsmen have twice persuaded judges to issue gagging orders stopping sordid details of his one-night stands with groupies being made public
A second player has threatened a newspaper with privacy laws after it uncovered details of his tawdry 'liaisons' with three women in one week. John Terry used a so-called super injunction to prevent details of his affair with a former team-mate's girlfriend being made public before it was spectacularly overturned by Mr Justice Tugendhat last week.
News of the World legal manager Tom Crone revealed that two more footballers were using similar legal threats and injunctions to stop reporting of their behaviour.
This led to widespread speculation on internet sites including Twitter.
One message asked: 'Who are the two other philandering Premiership stars who can't be named?' It went on to list several suggestions.
Last month the internet was awash with speculation about the identity of a married Premier League manager who succeeded in keeping his name out of the papers despite being spotted visiting a brothel.
Parliament has never passed a law on privacy. However, judges have built one on the back of Labour's 1998 Human Rights Act, which made the European Convention on Human Rights part of British law.
SUCCESSORS? WHAT A CHOICE!
Who are the other fine, upstanding candidates for the England captaincy should Terry be sacked?
STEVEN GERRARD: The 29-year-old Liverpool star last year admitted hitting Marcus McGee in a Southport nightclub - but in 'self defence' --and was found not guilty.
Previously he gave a character reference for gangster John Kinsella, telling a court he had 'total respect' for him.
RIO FERDINAND: The 31-year-old Manchester United defender has a conviction for drink driving and a number of bans for speeding. In June 2000 he was videoed in a booze-fuelled orgy, also involving Frank Lampard, in the Cypriot resort of Ayia Napa.In 2003 he failed to attend a mandatory drug test and was banned for eight months.
WAYNE ROONEY: In 2004 the Manchester United star, now 24, admitted to being 'young and foolish' after visiting prostitutes.
FRANK LAMPARD: Apart from the Ayia Napa incident, the Chelsea star, 31, was twice accused of cheating on his exfiancee Elen Rives.
After 9/11, he and team-mates including Terry were accused of drunkenly mocking American tourists at Heathrow.
source: dailymail