RACISM IN FOOTBALL AND ENGLISH MEDIA
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Racism in Football and English Media
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3
Brief Description of Recent Racial Affairs in English Football ..................................... 3
Articles Comparison ................................................................................................... 4
Headlines ................................................................................................................ 4
Use of Language ..................................................................................................... 5
Layout And Use Of Graphical Elements.................................................................. 6
Topic Coverage And Point Of View ......................................................................... 7
Discussion .................................................................................................................. 8
References ............................................................................................................... 10
Articles ...................................................................................................................... 12
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INTRODUCTION
Football is very popular sport in England. Footballers, however, usually do not have
remarkably good reputation among society. Often we can see newspaper headlines
dealing with their various love affairs and players breaking a pre-match curfew are
always good victims for tabloid photographers.
It is no surprise that in contact sports such as football, especially during important
matches, players can easily become overexcited and emotional, which often leads to
swearing and verbal abuse. These kinds of incidents are usually healed with
traditional hand shake after match, which is supposed to be a gesture of conciliation.
With the handshake footballers are in fact saying "What has happened on the pitch
will stay there, let's put it behind us". However, one type of verbal abuse is
considered, by our western society, as too much dangerous to be healed only with
handshake – it is racial aggravated abuse.
In this essay we explore how English newspapers deal with racism in football through
five articles. Four of them report the deposition of John Terry as an England national
team captain, because of an accusation of a racially aggravated verbal abuse of
Anton Ferdinand. The fifth article, published by Mirror only hours before Terry was
stripped of the captaincy, discusses the relation between Terry and Rio Ferdinand,
Anton's brother and a Terry's team-mate in English national team.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RECENT RACIAL AFFAIRS IN
ENGLISH FOOTBALL
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One of the recent affairs that got large attention was when Uruguayan footballer Luis
Suárez from Liverpool club was accused of racially abusing Patrice Evra on pitch
during a Premiere league match in October 2011. Suárez denied the claims on
Twitter. Later on, FA (the English football association) ordered Suárez to pay a fine of
£40,000 and banned him from 8 matches. However, Liverpool supported Suárez and
claimed he was innocent of the charge (BBC Sport 2012). It is interesting that Glen
Johnson, black team-mate of Suárez from Liverpool, has said in an interview “The
evidence was Luis's word against Evra's. I'm not saying Evra is lying but it's his word
against Luis's, isn't it? So how did it all turn out to be so strong in Evra's favour?“
(Hunter, A. 2012).
Another racism related affair in football was possible John Terry's abuse of Anton
Ferdinand on 2nd November 2011 during a Premiere league match. This case is not
resolved yet, because Terry will stand trial in June 2012 and has entered a not guilty
plea. On 3rd February, Terry was stripped of England captaincy. This decision was
carried out by FA board and, by that time England team manager, Fabio Capello was
only informed afterwards. Fabio Capello then defended John Terry which caused
controversy among players and public and the Italian manager has resigned.
ARTICLES COMPARISON
HEADLINES
The two quality press newspapers in our selection use rather formal form “John Terry
stripped of captaincy”. The Telegraph adds “by FA”, but other than that the headlines
in The Telegraph and The Independent are the same.
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Daily Mail "quotes" John Terry's team-mates saying “We don't want you”, which adds
attractiveness to the headline and it might make reader expect more controversial
content inside. They also refer to Terry's deposition as being “axed”, which is shorter
and more informal then “stripped”.
The Sun uses verb to sack (as captain), which again could be regarded as more
informal word which is typical for tabloid newspaper such as The Sun. Interesting
difference between The Sun and The Daily Mail is that The Daily Mail uses much
longer headline, whereas The Sun uses short and simple headline almost like quality
press except the usage of sack instead of strip of.
The Mirror article published before Terry was stripped of captaincy uses metaphorical
headline “Terry is on shaky ground with Rio”, where the shaky ground refers to
indeed unstable situation between the two players.
USE OF LANGUAGE
The Telegraph is the only newspaper that omits rather colloquial word skipper
(captain) and in general The Telegraph uses more advanced vocabulary and formal
expressions. For example, the trial with Terry was postponed to summer, which is
described as “adjournment of his trial” and no other word then “adjournment” is used
through the whole article to describe it, whereas The Independent uses “...trial will not
take place until...”, The Sun uses “...to get a trial date put back...” and Daily Mail uses
verb “delay”. It is difficult to measure how advanced a specific vocabulary is, but
words adjournment and adjourn have together around 500 occurrences in The British
National Corpus (2012), on contrary word delay has over 32 thousands occurrences.
This might mean that The Telegraph expects its readers to have wider vocabulary
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which implies higher education and higher education is typically connected with
(higher) middle social class and upper social class in England.
The Sun uses specific expressions to shorten sentences and to make them more
appealing, for instance “£170,000-a-week Chelsea skipper” or “Wayne Bridge's ex
Vanessa Perroncel”. They also abbreviate John Terry's name as JT in sub-headline
“Race-case JT axed by FA in phone call”. Usage of metaphors also helps The Sun to
squeeze more information in shorter sentences, like “Boss Capello faces Euro 2012
headache”. It seems, however, that only obvious and easy to understand cliché
metaphors are used. The Independent also uses metaphors such as “Chelsea
captain has been stripped of the England armband” or “majority of board members
swung behind the move to relieve Terry of the captaincy”. The “Armband” metaphor
is also used by The Daily Mail. The Mirror uses metaphor in the title. The Telegraph,
on the other hand, does not use metaphors, which could be seen as more
conservative style and therefore appreciated by more conservative audience typical
for The Telegraph.
LAYOUT AND USE OF GRAPHICAL ELEMENTS
All the newspapers use a photo of John Terry just below the headline. The most
graphically appealing layouts are used by The Sun and The Daily Mail. They both
provide lot of additional pictures. On contrary, The Independent and The Telegraph
use only one picture. The Mirror also uses only one picture, but it could be only
because the article itself is very short.
Only The Daily Mail shows a picture of John Terry with his wife near the paragraph
which describes his past love affair. The purpose of the picture might be solely to
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raise emotions and whether such picture adds any real value to the content is
disputable.
All the articles about John Terry deposition discuss possible replacements for him
and when doing so, they all refer to bookmakers. The Sun uses a picture of all
possible candidates together with the odds bookmakers gave them. It is possible that
The Sun used a neat graphical representation because it is more clear and easy to
understand and it attracts reader immediately rather than simple text. Intended
audience of The Sun might also be more interested in such information than, for
example, the audience of The Telegraph.
The Sun and The Daily Mail use sub-headlines to summarize what has happened
and provide further appealing information other than main headline. The Daily Mail
also uses bullet points in the article to again summarize what has happened during
the day. The Telegraph uses one sub-headline adding the information that Terry was
stripped of captaincy for second time. The Independent does not use any subheadline at all.
TOPIC COVERAGE AND POINT OF VIEW
All the articles about the deposition of John Terry report more or less the same things
that have happened on that day. However, the articles differ in the focus on
additional information about Terry. For example, The Telegraph does not mention
that Terry already had been stripped of the captaincy because of a love affair. One
would expect that for the tabloids, it was a good opportunity to comment the
controversial love affair again. However, in the article of The Sun, the love affair is
mentioned only at the end in one sentence.
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The reactions of John Terry himself and his team-mates from the English team are
addressed carefully in The Telegraph; it reads "Whether Terry is equally sanguine
remains to be seen, with those close to him suggesting he feels betrayed by the
decision."On contrary, in The Daily Mail, the headline contains "(John Terry) vents
fury over being axed"; although Terry actually did not immediately comment the
deposition on the day it happened.
The most interesting point of view is expressed in the article published on the Mirror
site under UK News. It is the only article that seems to be on the side of John Terry.
Sarcastic remarks and irony are employed. For example, “Luis Suarez, who was
innocent until proven Uruguayan“. Some of them could be actually regarded almost
as racist, or at least very offensive, for instance “(Ferdinand) castigated FIFA
imbecile Sepp Blatter (below) for suggesting racial ugliness should be settled by a
handshake. He only wishes facial ugliness could be so easily swept away”. The
following remark might be understood as a reference to the usual perception of black
people as poor: “My older brother always stuck up for me. In snow, we shared the
family sledge 50-50 – I had it uphill and he had it downhill”. It seems that the author
of the article was, however, very careful to not to allow anyone interpret the remarks
as racist and avoided any references to colour, although one could read the racism
between lines.
DISCUSSION
None of the articles directly condones racism. This might reflect the attitudes towards
racism in England and, all in all, in the whole western world. The media and, at least
in public, supposed-to-be moral authorities such as politicians or artists regard
racism, not only in football, as unacceptable.
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However, racism is still a delicate issue and any public statements about racism or
racially motivated acts are formulated thoroughly and carefully. This might be a
reason why, except for the one article published on Mirror web site, all the other
articles report what has happened without any evident judgement, although the
incident itself could be viewed as controversial, not because of racism, which clearly
is understood as wrong in English society, but because John Terry was stripped of
captaincy before he had any chance to defend himself at the trial in summer.
On contrary, roughly during the time when the issue of John Terry was evolving,
media were also reporting about Gary Dobson and David Norris who were standing
for trial in the case of racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. It is interesting that
these, later found to be found murderers, were carefully called as, for example,
“defendants” by media (Laville, S. and Dodd, V. 2011), although one could argue that
the evidence in this case was almost as obvious as TV footage of John Terry saying
the racial abuse. Moreover, the coverage of John Terry case in media seemed to be
at least the same if not higher than the coverage of the murder case.
Casual verbal racism is offensive and uneasy for the receiver as any other verbal
offence, for instance references to sexual orientation, nationality, any mental or
physical disorder. However, especially in case of public figures, it is believed that
verbal racism should be strictly penalized, mainly because it sets up a wrong
example for others, particularly for children or young people who then might carry out
deeds that are much more serious such as physical violence. In case of footballers, it
is mainly the psychological effect of verbal racism which causes the worst damage to
society and it can be argued that high coverage of these affairs in media does not
help either.
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From the remarks in the last article published on Daily Mirror web site, one could say
that casual racism has not yet vanished in England. On the other hand, if we admit a
bit more unconventional interpretation, the remarks might not be supporting casual
racism, but rather they might be expressing tiredness of society's focus on trifling
disputes between well-off footballers rather than real issues connected with racism.
The article is may be saying that, in cases where the offence is caused by emotional
situation and excitement during a match and comes from someone who clearly is not
a racist in a sense that Dobson and Norris are, if footballers retuned back to hand
shake without raising public controversy, it could have helped to tackle the racism
issue better.
REFERENCES

BBC Sport (2012). No Luis Suarez appeal from Liverpool over racism ban. 3
January 2012. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16402384
[Accessed 10 March 2012]

Hunter, A. (2012). Liverpool defender Glen Johnson reignites Luis Suárez racism
row. The Guardian. 8 March 2012. Available at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/08/liverpool-glen-johnson-luis-suarez
[Accessed 10 March 2012]

Kelso, P. (2012). John Terry stripped of England captaincy by FA. The Telegraph.
3 February 2012. Available at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/9058865/John-Terrystripped-of-England-captaincy-by-FA.html [Accessed 10 March 2012]

Laville, S. and Dodd, V. (2011). Stephen Lawrence killed because of 'the colour of
his skin'. The Guardian. 16 November 2011. Available at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/16/stephen-lawrence-murder-trial
[Accessed 10 March 2012]

Lawton, M. (2012). We don't want you: England team-mates turn on Terry as FA
ditches race captain and he vents fury over being axed. The Daily Mail. 4
February 2012. Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095910/FAstrips-John-Terry-England-captaincy-second-time-ahead-Anton-Ferdinand-racerow-trial.html [Accessed 10 March 2012]

McGovern, D. (2012). Terry is on shaky ground with Rio. Mirror Online. 3
February 2012. Available at http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/terry-is-onshaky-ground-with-rio-673484 [Accessed 10 March 2012]
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
O’Seha, G. (2012). John Terry sacked as England captain. The Sun. 4 February
2012. Available at
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4108707/England-football-newsJohn-Terry-sacked-as-England-captain.html [Accessed 10 March]

The British National Corpus (2012). Available at http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
[Accessed 10 March 2012]

The Independent (2012). John Terry stripped of England captaincy. 3 February
2012. Available at http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/johnterry-stripped-of-england-captaincy-6348920.html [Accessed 10 March 2012]
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ARTICLES
The Mirror
Terry is on shaky ground with Rio
THE John Terry camp, batting away calls for the big defender to be stripped of
the England captaincy following racism allegations, claim he is innocent until
proven guilty.
John Terry (right) speaking with QPR's Anton Ferdinand PA
THE John Terry camp, batting away calls for the big defender to be stripped of the England
captaincy following racism allegations, claim he is innocent until proven guilty.
That chimes with the treatment under similar circumstances of Luis Suarez, who was innocent
until proven Uruguayan.
Soon-to-be-former England captain Terry goes face-to-face with former England skipper Rio Ferdinand this weekend and bookies Hills offer 9-4 for them not to shake hands before the game.
The FA did away with the pre-match handshake at QPR last week – with a little luck, they may
this week do away with Ferdinand and Terry.
On the one hand, Rio will want to support kid brother Anton, allegedly racially abused by Terry;
on the other, he knows what a snub of his team-mate will do for England dressing-room harmony.
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Reading striker Jason Roberts claimed yesterday that it will be toxic in the England dressingroom. At least, that’s preferable to Peter Crouch in there.
Terry wants Rio to forgive and forget. He’s 10-1 to forgive, 1-10 to forget. Rio is the man,
remember, who castigated FIFA imbecile Sepp Blatter (below) for suggesting racial ugliness
should be settled by a handshake. He only wishes facial ugliness could be so easily swept away.
Rio’s dilemma is whether to stand up for the England brotherhood or his own brotherhood.
My older brother always stuck up for me. In snow, we shared the family sledge 50-50 – I had it
uphill and he had it downhill.
Terry, just 1-3 with Hills to be captain in the Euro opener against France, is 6-4 with Victor
Chandler. Ferdinand is 6-1. I know what my money’s on – France.
The Telegraph
John Terry stripped of England captaincy by FA
John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy for a second time by the
Football Association.
Trouble magnet: John Terry's controversial career has often overshadowed his achievements Photo: PA
By Paul Kelso, Chief Sports Reporter
11:10AM GMT 03 Feb 2012
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The Chelsea captain was informed by FA chairman David Bernstein this morning that, following
the adjournment of his trial on charges of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, the FA board no
longer considered it was appropriate to lead the team into Euro 2012.
Fabio Capello will be free to select him for the squad in Poland - Ukraine, and for England's
friendly internationals prior to the tournament starting with the game against Holland next month.
Attention will now switch to who will replace Terry, and whether the Chelsea captain is willing to
be selected for the national team at all.
Steven Gerrard is the bookmakers favourite to replace Terry. William hill make him 13-8 on, with
Frank Lampard 5-1,Rio Ferdinand 7-, Scott Parker 8-1, Gareth Barry 9-1 and Ashly Cole and Joe
Hart 16-1.
Bernstein is understood to have informed Capello of his decision, but early indications from the
Italian's camp are that he will accept the decision, and the wider context in which Bernstein has
made the call, the most significant of his tenure as chairman.
Whether Terry is equally sanguine remains to be seen, with those close to him suggesting he
feels betrayed by the decision.
The move comes after FA chairman David Bernstein spent yesterday canvassing opinion among
board members following the adjournment until after the European Championship of Terry’s trial
for the alleged racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand.
Bernstein is understood to have found a growing consensus that Terry’s position as captain is
untenable given the charges and the wider context of a season disturbed by racism
controversies. The decision remains highly contentious, not least because of the criminal charges
still outstanding, but would do a great deal to reassert the FA’s moral authority as a governing
body.
Swift action was necessary however, with Terry scheduled to lead England in a friendly against
Holland scheduled before the end of the month. Terry has captained England – in the friendly
against Sweden in November – since his altercation with Ferdinand in a 1-0 defeat at Queens
Park Rangers in October. However, that England game was before he had been charged by the
Crown Prosecution Service, a move that raised the stakes and the complexity of the issue facing
the FA.
And board members clearly felt that, for a number of reasons, Terry could not lead the side out at
Wembley against the World Cup finalists.
As recently as last week, the FA board agreed at its monthly meeting to let the legal process take
its course before reaching any definitive position on Terry’s leadership, but the lengthy
adjournment announced on Wednesday has altered calculations.
Bernstein is understood to have sought counsel from senior figures including Manchester United
chief executive David Gill, his Bolton counterpart Phil Gartside, national game chairman Roger
Burden and FA vice-chairman Barry Bright. Gill, Gartside and Premier League chairman Sir Dave
Richards were present at a Premier League shareholders meeting attended by Bernstein
yesterday, which provided him with an opportunity to gauge the mood in person.
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The FA has to balance its role as selector of the national side with its wider role as a regulator
with responsibility to punish incidents of racism.
The Terry-Ferdinand dispute and the Luis Suárez case, which saw the Liverpool striker banned
for eight matches for racially abusing Patrice Evra, have thrown that position into stark relief.
Having seen its disciplinary arm impose a swingeing ban on Suárez, the FA leadership was open
to charges of hypocrisy if it did not take action to address the invidious position in which the
charges against Terry have placed them.
Mail Online
We don't want you: England team-mates turn on Terry as FA ditches race
captain and he vents fury over being axed


Chelsea defender, 31, informed of FA's decision this morning
Move comes two days after court sets trial date for Terry to answer charge of raciallyabusing QPR player Anton Ferdinand
By MATT LAWTON
UPDATED: 01:00, 4 February 2012
John Terry was stripped of the England captaincy for the second time yesterday and a
number of team-mates believe he should not be picked by Fabio Capello while allegations of
racism persist.
The decision, taken by the 14 members of the FA board, was communicated first to Capello
on Thursday night and then to Terry at 10am yesterday in a call from FA chairman David
Bernstein. The news was broken by Mail Online.
Terry faces trial on July 9, having been accused of a racially aggravated public-order offence
against Anton Ferdinand. Terry denies the charge, but the FA have decided it would be
inappropriate to let the 31-year-old Chelsea defender lead England at this summer’s
European Championship.
Given the boot: John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy - for the second time - because he faces criminal charges over
allegations he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand
On a dramatic day…
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It emerged England manager Capello was not consulted and does not agree with the
decision.
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand — brother of Anton and Terry’s predecessor as
England captain — ruled himself out of contention to be the new skipper.
Capello began deliberating over Terry’s replacement, with his options limited. Gareth Barry
and Scott Parker are among the leading contenders.
Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas backed Terry and said he would remain Chelsea captain.
Losing the England armband has left the defender considering retirement from international
football, and Sportsmail understands Terry was made aware a number of his black England
team-mates had an issue with him — over his clash with Anton Ferdinand at Loftus Road on
October 23 — during their last get-together.
Family man: Father-of-two Terry with his wife Toni
Terry, stripped of the captaincy two years ago amid the controversy of his affair with Vanessa
Perroncel and Sportsmail’s revelation that the Wembley box he was given at a discounted rate was
being offered on the black market, is said to feel betrayed by the FA.
But he may also feel it is difficult to face hostility in the dressing room when he is no longer skipper.
The decision to delay his trial until July 9 makes it additionally complicated for him.
The FA made the unprecedented move of cancelling the pre-match handshake at last Saturday’s FA
Cup tie between QPR and Chelsea because Ferdinand and his team-mates were planning to snub
Terry and it is believed Manchester United players, with Rio Ferdinand among them, were planning to
do the same at Stamford Bridge tomorrow before Terry was withdrawn through injury.
The issue is a nightmare for Capello. He reinstated Terry as captain a year ago, ignoring warnings that
the move could come back to bite him. Now he has lost his captain in chaotic circumstances for the
second successive tournament, and is left with problems when it comes to appointing a replacement.
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After the way Capello handled replacing Rio Ferdinand with Terry last year, it is no surprise that the
United defender does not want the job. He tweeted yesterday: ‘I don’t want to be England captain after
the last episode, just want to concentrate on playin for utd & if I make the squad then as ever I’ll be
delighted.’
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard is the right man if he is fit and in form. He captained England at the 2010
World Cup and handled his media responsibilities extremely well. But concerns over Gerrard’s fitness
do not make him the automatic choice, even if Capello (right) would prefer to go with one of the senior
players.
Barry is a major candidate, with the likelihood Jack Wilshere will miss the tournament through injury
making the Manchester City man’s place in the side more secure.
Beyond that, Capello may well consider Tottenham’s Parker; an experienced club captain and
someone now among the first players on the England team sheet despite missing out on World Cup
selection.
Frank Lampard could also be a contender if he can prove himself worthy of a place in England’s first
XI.
Wayne Rooney would have been considered had he not been suspended for the first two games in
Poland and Ukraine. Ashley Cole would be a reluctant skipper and Joe Hart, while a certainty to start
every game, is likely to be dismissed on the grounds he is too young.
Capello, while accepting the FA’s right to strip Terry of the captaincy, is far from happy. The decision
has been taken while he is in Italy and his stance on Terry has not changed. The manager made a
recent visit to Chelsea’s training ground just to see Terry.
But Bernstein and the FA board have made the correct call. They have to consider the public image of
the England team. It is believed they stopped short of suspending Terry from international football
altogether because it would set a dangerous precedent ahead of Terry’s case at Westminster
Magistrates’ Court.
Race row: The moment Terry (in the black shirt) is accused of racially abusing QPR defender Ferdinand (centre left). He denies any
wrong-doing
An FA statement read: ‘Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry
to July, the FA confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations against him
are resolved.
‘The FA board expected the trial to be concluded prior to the European Championship.
Further to Wednesday’s confirmation that the trial will not take place until after the
tournament, the board has collectively decided it is in the interests of all parties that John
has the responsibilities of captaincy removed at this time.
‘This decision has been taken due to the higher profile nature of the captaincy, on and off the
pitch, and the demands and requirements expected of the captain leading into and during a
tournament.
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‘The FA board can confirm that he has not been excluded from the squad and that Fabio
Capello is free to select him for the Holland fixture on February 29 and the European
Championship.
‘FA chairman David Bernstein has spoken to John Terry and Fabio Capello to explain the
facts to them. Fabio Capello has not been involved in the FA board discussions which
reached this conclusion, but understands that the FA board has authority to make this
decision.
‘Fabio Capello will take the decision as to who will be made captain moving forward.
‘This decision in no way infers any suggestion of guilt in relation to the charge made against
John Terry. The FA will not be making any further comment on this matter.’
GERRARD ODDS-ON FOR CAPTAINCY
Steven Gerrard is the odds-on favourite to take John Terry's armband for the Euro 2012 opener, according to
Ladbrokes.
The Liverpool skipper is a warm 2/5 favourite to take over from Terry should he be stripped of captaincy, with Joe
Hart next in at 5/1.
Hart's teammate Gareth Barry earns an 8/1 quote while Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole are outsiders
at 20/1 and 33/1 respectively.
Terry is also now odds-on (8/11) to not start the opening match against France.
Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: 'Gerrard appears the obvious choice with the odds reflecting that.
'Should the armband be passed to another Chelsea player punters will be in for a bumper payday.'
The Independent
John Terry stripped of England
captaincy
The Football Association today stripped John Terry of the England captaincy due to
his racism court trial and revealed the decision had been taken without Fabio
Capello's involvement.
The England manager has always insisted he should have control of team matters
including the captaincy but the FA board, led by chairman David Bernstein, decided
they had to step in after confirmation that the trial will not take place until after Euro
2012.
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Capello, who will fly back from Italy at the weekend to attend Sunday's Chelsea v
Manchester United match, was not involved in the discussions but will be free to pick
Terry for England friendlies and Euro 2012 and to choose the replacement skipper likely to be Steven Gerrard.
There have been reports that Terry, 31, is bitter at the decision and is considering
retiring from international football - and his club manager Andres Villas-Boas
criticised the FA's action.
Terry has been accused of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand, a charge which he
denies, and will stand trial on July 9. A spokesman for the player declined to
comment today.
Capello himself had stuck by his belief that Terry should be regarded as innocent
until proven guilty and keep the armband.
It is the second time the Chelsea captain has been stripped of the England armband
having also lost it two years ago after allegations surrounding his private life came to
light.
Bernstein had spoken to all members of the 14-strong board yesterday about the issue
and explained the decision to Terry and Capello over the phone this morning.
The FA said in a statement: "The FA board expected the trial to be concluded prior to
the European Championship. Further to Wednesday's confirmation that the trial will
not take place until after the tournament, the board has discussed the matter in detail
and has collectively decided it is in the interests of all parties that John has the
responsibilities of captaincy removed at this time.
"This decision has been taken due to the higher profile nature of the England
captaincy, on and off the pitch, and the additional demands and requirements
expected of the captain leading into and during a tournament.
"The FA board can confirm that he has not been excluded from the squad and that
Fabio Capello is free to select him for the Holland fixture on 29 February and the
European Championship.
"FA chairman David Bernstein has spoken to both John Terry and Fabio Capello to
explain the facts to them. Fabio Capello has not been involved in the FA board
discussions which reached this conclusion, but understands that the FA board has
authority to make this decision.
"This decision in no way infers any suggestion of guilt in relation to the charge made
against John Terry."
The FA board had discussed the captaincy issue at their meeting last month and
though some members, including Bernstein and the new independent board member
Heather Rabbatts, had wanted to take action then it was decided to postpone a
decision.
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The scheduling of the trial changed matters however and the majority of board
members swung behind the move to relieve Terry of the captaincy.
Rabbatts, the Jamaican-born businesswoman and former Millwall deputy chairman
and the first woman to be an FA director, is understood to have argued that anyone in
public or a senior business position facing such a trial would have to stand aside.
There is also the possible scenario of England making a complaint about racist abuse
from the crowd when playing matches in Ukraine this summer.
It would have been difficult for the FA to take the moral high ground if England's
captain is himself facing a criminal charge for racism.
Sports minister Hugh Robertson backed the decision saying it would have been
"impossible" for Terry to continue.
Robertson said: "I completely support the FA's decision. It would have been
impossible for John Terry to have continued as captain with this charge over his
head."
Chelsea boss Villas-Boas said Terry would remain as club captain and criticised the
FA.
He said: "We have to really question what was their thinking process over that one.
"I don't agree with it but you have to ask the FA about it and the people responsible
for the decision.
"The statement from the FA is pretty clear on what was their decision-making. I don't
agree with it, John will continue to be our captain and I have no further things to
say."
Former England captain Rio Ferdinand ruled himself out of contention to take over
from Terry.
The Manchester United defender stepped in when Terry lost the captaincy two years
ago, before the job was returned to his centre-back colleague.
Rio Ferdinand was angered at his treatment by Capello when the captaincy was
restored to Terry a year ago without the former Leeds and West Ham player being
informed.
He has told the BBC programme Football Focus, in an interview to be shown
tomorrow, that the captaincy is not for him this time.
"No," he said, according to the BBC Sport website. "I've been England captain before
for a brief period. It was taken away from me so I just want to concentrate on playing
for Manchester United, to be honest with you. I'm happy to be playing good football
for Manchester United."
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The Sun
John Terry sacked as England
captain
 Race-case JT axed by FA in phone call
 Boss Capello faces Euro 2012 headache
Racism allegations ... John Terry
By GARY O’SHEA
Published: 04th February 2012
ENGLAND star John Terry was stripped of the captain's armband yesterday —
for the SECOND time.
FA chiefs decided they could not let him lead the Three Lions into the Euro 2012 games with
racism allegations hanging over his head.
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After a secret summit, chairman David Bernstein phoned the £170,000-a-week Chelsea skipper
to tell him the ruling.
The FA announced: "This decision has been taken due to the higher profile nature of the England
captaincy, on and off the pitch, and the additional demands and requirements expected of the
captain leading into and during a tournament."
It left manager Fabio Capello having to pick a new captain — AND decide whether to pick Terry
at all.
Odds ... on leading candidates to become captain
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Pressure had been mounting on defender Terry, 31, ever since he was charged with a
racially aggravated public order offence after allegedly hurling abuse at QPR's Anton
Ferdinand in October.
On Wednesday Chelsea's legal team entered a formal not guilty plea at Westminster Magistrates'
Court and managed to get a trial date put back to July 9 — after the Premier League season and
Euro championships have finished.
Video: Terry axed as England skipper
JOHN Terry stripped of captaincy ahead of Euro 2012 tournament

Football
The FA, who had hoped the case would be sorted out beforehand, then met and took the
decision that Capello had appeared to be hesitant to make.
The FA statement said: "Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry to
July, the Football Association confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations
against him are resolved.
Axed ... John Terry in car yesterday
JIM BENNETT
"The FA Board can confirm that he has not been excluded from the squad and that Fabio
Capello is free to select him.
Big questions ... 3 Lions boss Fabio Capello
"FA chairman David Bernstein has spoken to both John Terry and Fabio Capello to explain the
facts to them. Fabio Capello has not been involved in the FA Board discussions, but understands
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that the FA Board has authority to make this decision. Fabio Capello will take the decision as to
who will be made captain moving forward.
"This decision in no way infers any suggestion of guilt in relation to the charge against John
Terry."
Sports minister Hugh Robertson said: "I completely support the FA's decision. It would have been
impossible for John Terry to have continued as captain."
Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand — Anton's brother — ruled himself out of the race to replace
him.
Terry first lost the England captaincy in 2010 over claims of a fling with former teammate Wayne
Bridge's ex Vanessa Perroncel.
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