Players’ union chief Gordon Taylor has offered to help John Terry and Wayne Bridge get through the storm which has rocked football.
Terry was stripped of the England captaincy by manager Fabio Capello on Friday after a week of headlines surrounding his alleged affair with Bridge’s ex-partner.
Bridge’s international future is in the balance over doubts about whether he can share the same changing room as his former Chelsea teammate.
But Taylor urged both Terry and Bridge to concentrate on their football.
He said: “It is for everybody to deal with these issues as they feel fit and John Terry’s best way to deal with them is to get playing football again. Same with Wayne Bridge.
“I’m chief executive of the players’ union and both parties know they can have help and advice and that offer has been made to both of them.
“They are footballers and that is what they need to focus on now. That is why Capello made the decision in the way he did, to let both players know that he was trying to be fair to everybody.
“We can try to move on and take the heat out of the situation. We do seem to have a media circus building up with momentum every time we come to a World Cup, it’s a little bit earlier this year than normal.
“Sometimes footballers don’t realise the depth of media intensity and when it comes it can knock them back.”
Taylor called for perspective where football was concerned.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme he added: “Suddenly the players can’t behave properly, Portsmouth not paying the wages, now the bad behaviour and you don’t get a chance to look at the fact that football is so popular because of the quality of the game.
“If the players weren’t good and dedicated it wouldn’t be so popular. If you see what the players commit to charity and community initiatives with youngsters and the disabled it is amazing. There were 30,000 visits made by them last year.”