Terry given time off after affair allegations
Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins has confirmed John Terry will be allowed to miss Saturday's FA Cup fifth round tie against Cardiff.
Terry was sacked as England captain last week following allegations that he had an affair with the ex-girlfriend of international team-mate and former Chelsea colleague Wayne Bridge.
According to newspaper reports, Blues skipper Terry wants the time off to join his wife, Toni, in Dubai this weekend in a bid to save his marriage.
Wilkins explained that Terry and manager Carlo Ancelotti had discussed the defender's break from club duties.
"He will not play this weekend. Carlo is giving him a bit of time off," Wilkins said. "He will come back and prepare for our game against Wolves on February 20.
"They just had a little chat, John and Carlo, and decided that would be the best for all concerned."
Terry played 90 minutes for Chelsea on Wednesday but was unable to prevent his side slipping to a 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.
Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins has confirmed John Terry will be allowed to miss Saturday's FA Cup fifth round tie against Cardiff.
Terry was sacked as England captain last week following allegations that he had an affair with the ex-girlfriend of international team-mate and former Chelsea colleague Wayne Bridge.
According to newspaper reports, Blues skipper Terry wants the time off to join his wife, Toni, in Dubai this weekend in a bid to save his marriage.
Wilkins explained that Terry and manager Carlo Ancelotti had discussed the defender's break from club duties.
"He will not play this weekend. Carlo is giving him a bit of time off," Wilkins said. "He will come back and prepare for our game against Wolves on February 20.
"They just had a little chat, John and Carlo, and decided that would be the best for all concerned."
Terry played 90 minutes for Chelsea on Wednesday but was unable to prevent his side slipping to a 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.
Terry thanks Chelsea’s fans for backing
Chelsea's John Terry has thanked the club's fans for their support after allegations about his private life that cost him the England captaincy.
England manager Fabio Capello took a matter of minutes on Friday to tell Terry his time as captain of the national side was at an end following the central defender's alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-girlfriend of former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge.
But the 29-year-old Terry remains the captain of Chelsea, where he has had the unstinting backing of manager Carlo Ancelotti, and the ongoing publicity over his private life appears to have had no adverse effect on his on-field performances.
It was from Terry's flick-on that Didier Drogba scored the first of his two goals on Sunday at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 to regain top spot in the English Premier League.
Terry, who has not so far commented publicly about his alleged infidelity, remains a hero to many Chelsea supporters and he told Chelsea TV, the club's in-house television station, after Sunday's victory: "On a personal note I would like to thank every single fan.
"It's been an emotional day (Sunday) for myself and how the fans have been with me over the last two weeks has been quite incredible.
"I didn't expect that today and I would like to thank every single individual fan for the way they treated me.
"It was a great performance and, I mean it from my heart, I would like to thank everyone."
Rio Ferdinand to succeed John Terry as England captain
Rio Ferdinand will be the next England captain and will lead the national side in the World Cup this summer, after John Terry was today relieved of the position by Fabio Capello.
The Manchester United defender had been Capello's vice-captain and will take over the armband following Terry's alleged affair with the former partner of Wayne Bridge. The Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard will become vice-captain.
"When I chose John Terry as captain, I also selected a vice-captain and also named a third choice," said Capello. "There is no reason to change this decision."
For Ferdinand, the promotion completes a remarkable rise rehabilitation for his international career. In 2003, Ferdinand was banned from the game for missing a drugs test after being charged with misconduct by the FA for "the failure or refusal by a player to submit to drug testing as required by a competent official".
An independent three-man panel found the case against Ferdinand proven and imposed an eight-month ban and £50,000 fine.
The decision barred him from selection for Euro 2004 – with Terry replacing him in the England team for the tournament.
Then, two years later he was in hot water once again when he was banned from driving after being clocked travelling at more than 105mph on a motorway.
Magistrates in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, disqualified him from driving for 28 days and fined him £1,500. It was Ferdinand's fourth driving ban, following convictions for drink-driving in 1997 and speeding in 2002 and 2003.
But, from a potentially difficult position Ferdinand, who practised ballet in his youth, slowly fought his way back to respectability.
The hip-hop fan is notorious with team mates for being a prankster as highlighted through his short-lived television series Rio's World Cup Wind-ups. But away from the football field he now cuts a more mature figure.
He has set up the Rio Ferdinand Live The Dream Foundation, to establish a series of centres in deprived areas to mentor teenagers.
Ferdinand made his England debut as far back as 1997 against Cameroon when, at 19, he was the youngest defender to have been capped. He went on to play in the 2002 World Cup – where he was named in the team of the tournament – and in the 2006 tournament in Germany.
The 31-year-old from Peckham in London has been plagued by a back problem for the last 18 months but has recently returned to the United side after a three-month lay-off and so far the injury has not returned.
Ferdinand previously described it as "an honour" to have captained England in Capello's second game in charge, against France in March 2008. "As a kid you grow up wanting to play for England and lead your country out and I've been given that honour of being able to fulfil those dreams," said Ferdinand at the time.
The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, last season described him as "now the best centre-half in the world by far".
John Terry dropped as England captain after Fabio Capello meeting
John Terry has today been dropped as captain of England by Fabio Capello.
The defender attended a meeting with the England manager at Wembley Stadium this afternoon, thought to have lasted only 12 minutes, to discuss his role with the national side following the allegations that have surfaced regarding his private life and, specifically, a supposed relationship with Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-girlfriend of Terry's former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge.
Capello said in a statement: "After much thought I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry."
The manager stressed that while Terry's conduct on the field had been exactly what he wanted when he appointed the central defender as captain in August 2008, the recent headlines about his personal life left him with little choice other than to remove the honour from the Barking-born player.
"As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour," added Capello. "However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad. What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice and John Terry was notified first."
Pressure has been mounting for Terry to resign or be dropped ever since the allegations were first made in the press and Capello, having returned from his holiday home in Switzerland yesterday, appears to have acted swiftly.
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand are among the leading candidates to take over as England captain.
Fabio Capello to demand full disclosure from John Terry over affair
Fabio Capello will demand full disclosure from John Terry before deciding if he is the man to captain England at the World Cup finals in June.
The England manager flew into Heathrow on Thursday and, amid continuing tabloid revelations about the private lives of Terry and his Chelsea team-mates, is believed to be determined to ensure he has all the facts at his disposal before making a decision on whether the defender should remain as captain.
Capello is set to meet Terry today after Chelsea's training session and ask him to declare any other skeletons in his closet. It will be the first time the pair have met since Terry's position as captain became a national talking point in the wake of an injunction preventing the reporting of his alleged affair with Wayne Bridge's ex‑girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel.
Bridge is expected to return to the Manchester City side after two months out with a knee injury to face Hull City on Saturday, despite his manager, Roberto Mancini revealing that it was "not a good moment in his head", while Terry has a crucial match against Arsenal on Sunday.
While Capello has been in Switzerland recuperating from knee surgery, coincidentally buying himself and the Football Association some time, his right-hand man, Franco Baldini, has this week spoken to both players, and their managers, plus other members of the squad. He has also canvassed opinion more widely about the likelihood of further debilitating stories emerging before the World Cup.
The England manager is expected to make his decision purely on footballing rather than moral grounds, weighing the effect on the dressing room of keeping Terry as captain versus the possible damage that his removal could do. But he will nevertheless want to be convinced by Terry that there are no more embarrassing revelations, or worse, that are yet to emerge that could further destabilise the build‑up to the World Cup.
All involved would like to draw a line under the affair tomorrow, but the FA chief executive, Ian Watmore, and the chairman, Lord Triesman, are determined that the decision and its timing should be entirely in the gift of Capello. Throughout, they have sought to maintain the line that the decision is one for Capello alone and worked hard to clamp down on the possibility of other members of the FA board or international committee speaking out on the matter.
Capello would like to have made a definitive decision before he steps on to a plane on Saturday for the Euro 2012 qualifying draw in Warsaw, but is prepared to take longer to make up his mind should he deem it necessary. He is due to face the press after the draw on Sunday, a day which is also likely to bring forth further lurid revelations about Terry and other high‑profile footballers.
Mancini has revealed that he discussed Bridge's state of mind with Baldini on Monday, when he was at Wembley for Manchester City's failed attempt to gain a work permit for the Kenya international Mcdonald Mariga.
"Baldini asked me about Wayne and I told him that he is training every day and it's not a good moment in his head but it's not a problem on the training ground," Mancini said. "For me it's important he can play now and not think about the other person. Wayne is most important for us and the other players. He plays in the national team and he's the best left-back in England and the Premier League and that's the most important thing for me and the other players."
Mancini said that Bridge was in the right frame of mind to play: "I spoke with him two days ago, three days ago and yesterday and he wants to play on Saturday and I think he can play."
Baldini has also spoken with Ancelotti to ascertain Terry's mental state and it is one of the ironies of the extraordinary media firestorm around the affair that all four men in charge of the situation are Italian and share an air of bemusement at the fuss it has caused.
But his time in the job has made Capello more than aware of the importance placed on the role of captain, in comparison to its largely ceremonial role in Italian football.
