Soccer:Stuart Pearce will take charge of the England team for the friendly against Holland on February 29th, English Football Association chairman David Bernstein confirmed today.
Fabio Capello resigned as England manager yesterday following the decision by the FA to strip John Terry of the captaincy because of his pending racism trial in July. Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in October.
Harry Redknapp has become the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello in the long term. But Pearce, who served as Capello’s assistant, is the England Under-21 boss and will take charge of Britain men’s Olympic team this summer, will look after senior national team affairs in the short term at least. He had been due to be in charge of the under-21s against Belgium in Middlesbrough on February 29th.
Bernstein told a press conference at Wembley: “I can announce that Stuart Pearce will manage the England team against Holland.
“He has huge experience outside and inside the organisation. He has been working with the under-21 team and has been working with Fabio for some time. I have got great confidence in Stuart, we will be in good hands.
“Our priority then will be to appoint a new England manager.”
Bernstein revealed that the decision to strip Terry of the captaincy had been a unanimous one.
“We all believed that the John Terry case would be dealt with in March or April,” Bernstein said. “When it was postponed we were taken by surprise like everybody else was taken by surprise.
“The board made a very quick and unanimous decision regarding the captaincy. I informed Fabio on Thursday evening as soon as the decision had been made. Fabio wasn’t happy but he accepted the board’s authority in the matter.
“On Sunday Fabio conducted an interview with an Italian broadcaster. That caused conjecture and huge public debate and frankly it was an unsatisfactory situation.”
Bernstein insisted Capello had “behaved with dignity and honour” during the meetings with the FA yesterday.
“Yesterday was not an easy day but we concluded matters with a handshake. Any reports of storming out and are a complete misrepresentation of the facts,” he added.
“(FA general secretary) Alex Horne and I met with Fabio yesterday and had a meeting lasting just over an hour. It was a very detailed meeting with a lot of detailed questions asked by us.
“We then adjourned the meeting and I then engaged myself with Fabio in his office, and it was at that time that he offered his resignation and I, on behalf of the board, agreed that this was the right decision by the FA.
“I will emphasise that the meetings were professional and amicable.”
In terms of a long-term successor, the FA say the next England manager will ideally be English or British but must above all be "the best person" available.
When asked if the new manager would be English, Bernstein said at a Wembley press conference: "No, he will not definitely be English. Clearly there's a preference for an Englishman. The position hasn't changed.
"There's a preference for an English person or a British person but in the end we want the best person. So I'm not prepared to rule out anything at this stage. Clearly an English or British person would have a good start on the matter."
