John Terry: Chelsea Centre-Back Stripped of England's Captaincy Again

The English FA have relieved John Terry of his duties as England captain, according to the BBC.

The decision has been made in the wake of a court decision to postpone Terry’s racial abuse trial until 9 July 2012, following this summer’s European Championship.

Terry is currently under investigation for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in Chelsea’s Premier League defeat to QPR in October, a charge he strenuously denies.

However, the FA have decided that it was not right for Terry to lead his country into Euro 2012 with the cloud of a criminal trial hanging over him and informed Terry of their decision to strip him of the captaincy early this morning.

The decision will cause great embarrassment to both Terry and England manager Fabio Capello, who reinstated Terry as the national team’s captain last year, having stripped him of the honour back in 2010 following revelations of an alleged affair with teammate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend.

Now, Terry has been stripped of the captaincy a second time, although not at the behest of Capello.

Reactions from both Terry and Capello are likely to follow, but it would not be out of the question to suggest neither are happy with the decision; Terry has not been found guilty of any offence, while Capello would expect to be able to name his own captain, as manager of the team.

The fall-out will continue over the coming days, and there is already wild speculation on Twitter that Terry could now consider his international future.

England will be now searching for a new leader ahead of Euro 2012, but the real story is that, for a second time in two years, John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy.