JOHN TERRY faces a D-Day over his England captaincy with English Football Association (FA) leaders expected to decide as early as today whether he should give up the armband due to his racism trial.
FA chairman David Bernstein yesterday contacted members of the board to seek their views on Terry’s captaincy after yesterday’s announcement that the Chelsea defender’s court case, where he is accused of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand will not take place until July – after Euro 2012.
More than one board member has argued strongly that Terry should not be the England figurehead with such a serious charge hanging over him, and that the FA should act immediately rather than putting off a decision until the next board meeting on February 23th.
The spectre of England being forced to make a complaint about racist abuse from the crowd when playing matches in Ukraine this summer has been raised – it would be difficult for the FA to take the moral high ground if England’s captain is himself facing a criminal charge for racism.
Other board members believe the FA are in a no-win situation and that if they remove the captaincy from Terry they will be accused of pre-judging the case.
Terry’s barrister yesterday entered a formal “not guilty” plea at Westminster magistrates court.
