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29 March 2024

Capello to meet with FA chief over Terry row

Published
By AFP

England manager Fabio Capello is set to meet Football Association chief executive David Bernstein later this week after criticising the decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy.

The Italian boss, due to watch the Premier League match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur on Monday, returned to work to find himself at the centre of a media storm.

He was also rebuked by one of his predecessors as England manager for going public with his displeasure at the way the FA kept him out of the loop in deciding to stand Terry down from the captaincy.

Terry, 31, was relieved of his duties on Friday due to an ongoing court case in which he is accused of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers centre-back Anton Ferdinand during a match last year.

But the Chelsea defender remains available for England selection as a player.

Terry's case is not due to be heard until July 9 - after the end of this year's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

The FA, while not wanting to prejudge the outcome, said had Terry remained captain it would've been an unwelcome distraction for England's Euro 2012 squad.

However, any hopes that move might dampen down interest in the issue were dashed when, just days later, Capello, in an interview with Italian television, hit out at his employers' action.

Graham Taylor, England manager from 1990-93, said Capello's "unwise" remarks could only harm the squad.

"It doesn't help the situation at all, as England go into the European Championships," Taylor told the BBC.

"All it does is disturb everything even more.

"To come out in this public fashion actually, in one respect, gives England an even bigger problem for the selection and harmony of the squad for the European Championships," he added.

Capello, whose contract expires after Euro 2012, made his feelings plain in an interview with Italian RAI public television on Sunday.

"I don't agree with the decision," he said. "I spoke with the chairman (Bernstein) telling him that in my opinion Terry cannot be punished until the court's decided - that's the civil justice, not the sporting one - that Terry has done that which he is accused of."

Meanwhile, former senior FA official David Davies said Capello had jeopardised his own position.

"You have to ask what his motive is," Davies told the BBC. "You have to suspect he wants to prevent John Terry retiring as a player before Euro 2012 but there are wider issues.

"A contract may have been breached, there is strong leadership now at the FA from David Bernstein. Last week he wasn't slow to take things forward and he may not be slow to do so now."

But Dutch great Ruud Gullit said that whatever else happened, Capello would not resign from his reported £6 million-a-year post.

"I saw him on Sunday night, but I didn't get the feeling that he was concerned about anything," Gullit, who played under Capello at AC Milan, said.

"I think he just wanted to put his opinion straight away and do the things he think is best for the national team," he added at the Laureus World 2012 Sports Awards in London.

Terry's case has attracted huge attention in England, where the national side is a multi-racial team that often sees him playing alongside Rio Ferdinand, Anton's brother, in central defence.

Terry has always protested his innocence and has been backed by club manager Andre Villas-Boas, who has kept him as Chelsea captain.