The Football Association's decision to remove the England captaincy from John Terry has left him contemplating whether to quit international football in protest and comes at a time when he is facing a potential mutiny within Fabio Capello's squad. Terry's demotion was confirmed in a 10am phone call on Friday after David Bernstein, the FA chairman, informed Capello he was being overruled because the FA could not allow the Chelsea player to continue in the role after his trial for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand was scheduled to begin on 9 July, eight days after the European Championship final.

Capello opposed the decision and is almost as angry as Terry, not least because it leaves the manager with a dilemma about who to choose as England's captain for the tournament. Rio Ferdinand immediately made it clear he did not want to be considered and, while Steven Gerrard is the obvious candidate, the Liverpool player's injury issues mean Capello will make backup plans, potentially including Gareth Barry and Scott Parker. One key requirement will be to reunite what is increasingly looking like a fractured squad after it emerged Terry was cold-shouldered by a small but influential group of players when the squad were last together for the friendlies against Sweden and Spain.

Read more at The Guardian ...