QPR don't need to shake Terry's hand

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The tawdry tale of John Terry comes around more often than Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol.

His Chelsea side face Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road tonight, a fixture that caused a wretched racial row that has ravaged the game for a year like a malignant disease.

Those handshakes in April's Chelsea-QPR encounter were presumably scrapped to avoid causing embarrassment. Who was going to be embarrassed?

Who stood to lose the most face if the handshakes went ahead? Why must Brave John Terry keep winning? Is he Charlie Sheen? For these reasons, the handshakes must go ahead. Terry doesn’t call the shots. The game does.

And if the QPR players decide to shun him in the pre-match ritual, then they will not only unite in solidarity behind an innocent teammate, they will tell the watching world that they are just as tired of the tedious Terry tale as we are.