Thaindian News

London, Mar 23 (ANI): John Terry, who was reinstated to lead England in the Euro 2012 qualifier with Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, has said that coach Fabio Capello should never have taken the captaincy away from him.

Terry said it was wrong to remove him last year over an alleged affair with the ex-girlfriend of teammate Wayne Bridge.

He said: “I didn’t agree with the decision, but I said I respected it and would continue to work hard.”

Terry feels that the decision taken by Capello and assistant Franco Baldini to remove him was made for non-football reasons, The Sun reports.

“When I met Fabio and Franco at Wembley, I looked them in the eye and said they would get nothing less from me. I feel that is what I’ve done and maybe they’ve both looked at that in me.

“I didn’t agree with the decision, which I told them face to face. I could understand it a bit. But once they spoke to me - and it’s difficult for legal reasons to go into detail - I felt that I didn’t deserve to lose the armband,” Terry said.

“People say it was a six-minute meeting but it was 10 or 15. We spoke about stuff openly and honestly, which will, hopefully, stay private between us three. As I’ve said, I accepted their decision but it doesn’t mean I agreed with it and I never will,” he added.

Terry insisted he had seen no evidence of splits in the camp over his appointment as permanent skipper in place of the injured Rio Ferdinand.

“Certain players at clubs don’t get on with each other, we know that. But that’s not just football, it’s life itself. I know I’m not going to be everybody’s cup of tea. When the manager pulled the group together at training and said I was captain, he asked if anyone had any questions and no one said a word to the manager or to me,” he said. (ANI)