MOSCOW - John Terry has slammed the section of England fans who are targeting Frank Lampard and insists they are "sending a bad message throughout the entire team".
Skipper Terry, who will miss Wednesday's vital European Championship qualifier in Russia because with a knee injury, believes the treatment being handed out to his Chelsea team-mate is unfair.
Lampard was again the victim of the boo-boys when he was introduced as a second-half substitute against Estonia at Wembley on Saturday.
Terry made a conscious effort to bring up the subject of Lampard's treatment at a press conference in Moscow only hours before he aggravated his knee problem when England trained on the plastic pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium.
"I'd like to speak on behalf of all the players," Terry said.
"We are not impressed by the section of the crowd that are singling Frank out and it sends a bad message throughout the whole team.
"Frank is a very good mate of mine and a fantastic player. The England fans realise that as well. They voted him England's best player two years running.
"We all know what he can do, what he has done, and he is still a world-class player and we just urge everyone in England to get behind him and show their full support, not only to Frank but the whole team.
"There are a section of the crowd who are not doing that. The small kids of the future, our future fans, are seeing that and it is not a nice message to send to them.
"It is not fair because Frank has done awesomely for England over the period he has been involved, scored great goals, performed very well in big tournaments."
Terry added: "It has happened in the past with Owen Hargreaves and Peter Crouch. It always seems someone gets picked on and it is not nice.
"We came off the pitch at the weekend and the 3-0 result put us in a great situation to qualify.
"Yet everyone was not talking about the way we played, everyone was talking about feeling sorry for Frank and it is not nice.
"He certainly doesn't deserve it. He has worked his socks off to be fit for England and has done for six weeks at Chelsea.
"I've seen him coming in first in the morning, the last to leave, making himself fit for these games. When he comes, he should be respected.
"Frank is definitely strong enough to deal with this. This message isn't coming from Frank. This is coming from me and other players who noticed it and aren't impressed. We urge that section of the fans to cut out the booing."
Terry is now poised to bring forward the minor operation he will require to get rid of the floating bone in his knee, which led to his current problem.
He said: "Whenever I have the operation, I'll be back playing within two or three days.
"There is no major surgery needed. It is just a case of removing the floating bone.
"I also don't need injections in my toe anymore and don't need to wear a mask anymore to protect my cheekbone."
