John Terry Stripped Of England Captaincy

John Terry has been stripped of his England captaincy, according to the Telegraph.

The report claims the Chelsea defender was told by FA Chairman David Bernstein this morning that he has lost the armband for the second time in his career.

Terry’s position as captain has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks following his charge of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, a charge that Terry denies.

It was announced earlier in the week that the 31-year-old would stand trial after the Euro 2012 Championships and this lead to many questioning Terry’s participation in the tournament, but in particular his role as captain.

Anton Ferdinand’s brother, Rio, could well play alongside Terry at the heart of England’s defence so the situation is a complicated one for manager Fabio Capello to deal with.

Now Terry has lost the armband, the next decision for Capello is who should replace him with Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, Terry’s Chelsea team-mate’s Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole among the early favourites.