Terry: The England Fans Have Returned

Some 7,000 Three Lions fans have made the trip to Germany ahead of Wednesday evening's friendly clash and John Terry is delighted to see them.

The Chelsea star was hurt to see the fans so disgruntled during the Sven-Göran Eriksson and Steve McLaren regimes, when a poor showing at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and failure to qualify for Euro 2008 left the nation reeling.

Now, though, England are on course for South Africa 2010 and have already destroyed Croatia - the scurge of their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Thus, despite the injury controversy that's dogged the camp this week, Terry is feeling good about the return of the fans.

"I think we did lose the confidence of the fans but, over the last four games, with the performances and the results especially, they have been encouraged. Recently we have regained their confidence of our fans.

"That is why we are getting 7,000 fans coming over to Germany during what is a difficult time financially to show their support for their country.

"They need to know that, as players, we are trying to give everything on the pitch to get the right results for them and to get more and more fans coming to watch us."

The Germany game promises to be much more than a friendly, but Terry knows these non-competitive games could soon be a thing of the past.

"Will there be no international friendlies one day? I can see it one day but not in the near future. Maybe in four or five years time they will slowly disappear.

"The games come thick and fast - more and more each year. Players on the international scene are playing 50-60 games a year, so I think we just have to be careful."

Liam Black, Goal.com