“I absolutely disagree with the decision to remove John
Terry as the captain”. These were the comments made by England manager Fabio
Capello yesterday on Italian TV which has caused fury at the FA headquarters
this morning.
Last week the decision was made by the FA committee at their
Wembley headquarters to remove the prestigious armband from the Chelsea
defender after his trial for allegations of racial abuse against Anton
Ferdinand was delayed until the 9th July 2012, one week after the
European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.
With the hearing delayed, FA bosses believed they couldn’t allow
a player who is up against such allegations lead the country in a major
competition, however, strangely it emerged afterwards that England manager
Fabio Capello was not involved in discussions whether to remove the armband
from Terry. After the announcement, it was made clear that Capello supported
the FA’s decision and would begin the search for his new captain who would
hopefully lift the European Championship trophy on July 1st;
however, comments on Italian TV from Capello have since indicated he is not
supportive of the decision.
Capello could have landed himself in huge trouble after the
remarks with former FA chairman David Davies saying he might have ‘breached his
contract’, the punishment for that obviously being dismissal. It is unlikely
the FA will dismiss Capello, in fact they should be moving heaven and earth to
avoid that situation as a calm build up to a competition would be what the
Association hope for. Capello’s argument is that Terry as not yet been found
guilty and until he is so then he should remain as captain.
One argument that continues to show its face against the
boss is that Capello is undermining whoever is asked to take over the role.
While it is true Capello stripped the armband from Terry before over the
incident of the player sleeping with team mate Wayne Bridge girlfriend, Capello
clearly supports his skipper in this bitter row which could cause dressing room
unrest, particularly as Terry’s central defender partner at the Euros could be
Anton Ferdinand’s brother Rio.
While it is highly unlikely Capello will get the sack over
his comments, it is something the FA bosses will take extremely seriously as
again it shows a lack of unity in the run up to another major tournament and
Capello can expect some punishment, however nothing more than a quiet word from
David Bernstein along the lines of ‘Just focus on winning Euro 2012’ is
expected.
Was Capello right to say what he did? Should the Italian be
sacked?
As always let me know your thoughts?
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