Terry joins Alpay critics

Alpay misses Villa training

John Terry insists Turkey defender Alpay deserves the barrage of criticism he has received for taunting England captain David Beckham in Istanbul.

Chelsea's England defender accused Aston Villa's Alpay of being "totally unprofessional" in confronting Beckham after he missed a penalty - and then again at half-time in the goalless Euro 2004 qualifier.

Terry said: "If he gets a load of stick he only has himself to blame. He deserves it as what he did was totally unprofessional - and people will remember that.

"Before the match Alpay was saying the Turks will welcome us and there will be no wind-ups from their players, then he says those things to our captain.

"The English fans won't forget that whichever club they support."

What he did was totally unprofessional - and people will remember that John Terry on Alpay

Alpay's first test may come on Sunday when Aston Villa face bitter rivals Birmingham City at St Andrews.

Former Aston Villa manager John Gregory, who brought Alpay to Villa Park from Fenerbahce for £5.6m in July 2000, insisted he must offer a blanket apology to England.

He said: "Alpay was a fantastic player and a perfect professional when he played for me.

"But I cannot condone what he did at the weekend. His actions were totally inappropriate - he went too far.

"He should make an apology to David Beckham, David's family and the whole England team.

"I brought Alpay to this country and found him to be the perfect gentleman."

Goalkeeper Rustu, Alpay's Turkey team-mate, was also critical of his antics.

He said: "As a result of his stupid behaviour, we did no talking about tactics at half-time."

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