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? Chelsea star stripped of England captaincy for second time
? Senior players unhappy before autumn friendlies

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.

Terry, who denies the charge and is determined to clear his name, became aware other players had a problem with him and the issue was never fully resolved before all returned to their clubs. Rio Ferdinand, Anton's older brother, was not involved but his own relationship with Terry is fragile, to say the least. These are two of the more influential players in the England dressing room and, for Capello, it is threatening to become a serious issue. Jason Roberts, the Reading striker and Kick It Out campaigner, has predicted the mood will be "toxic" and Capello will almost certainly have to address it when the players reconvene for the Wembley friendly against Holland on 29 February.

Before then, Capello will offer Terry private backing amid suggestions from the player's camp that he is aggrieved enough to consider withdrawing from contention. Terry believes the FA has reacted under pressure from the media. There is also a sense he was already considering ending his England career after Euro 2012.

Capello had wanted to keep Terry as captain in keeping with his previous statements of considering him innocent until proven guilty. He reiterated this to Terry this week and had visited him at Chelsea's training ground, again to reassure him of his position.

Capello must now reflect on a gamble that badly misfired given that it was his decision to depose Ferdinand and reinstate Terry for his second spell as captain, having initially demoted the Chelsea player because of the Wayne Bridge controversy. The manager's annoyance is exacerbated by the fact the decision was taken while he was out of the country. The FA released a statement confirming that Bernstein had "spoken to both John Terry and Fabio Capello to explain the facts. Fabio Capello has not been involved in the discussions ? but understands that the FA board has authority to make this decision."

The decision was based on the fact "the FA board expected the trial to be concluded prior to the European Championship" and "the higher profile nature of the England captaincy, on and off the pitch, and additional demands and requirements expected of the captain". The FA added: "This in no way infers [sic] any suggestion of guilt in relation to the charge made against John Terry."

Terry was later offered Chelsea's backing. "It's the FA's decision," Andr� Villas-Boas said. "I don't agree with it. John will continue to be our captain. It's the club's and the manager's decision to support the player up to the moment of the court.

"I have spoken to John. He was disappointed but John is a person of great mental strength and personal convictions. He has to move on. He's been through a period like this before when he was stripped of the captaincy and he came back to a level of great individual performances."

Capello's next captain would ideally be Gerrard but he also has to weigh up the fact the Liverpool player has started only eight games this season. Frank Lampard may not be in the team this summer and the same goes for Barry if Gerrard and Parker are available and Jack Wilshere is back from injury. Ashley Cole has also been mentioned but only briefly because the England management know he is not keen. Otherwise, Joe Hart is ruled out because he is deemed too young, at 24, while appointing Wayne Rooney would not make sense when he is banned for the first two matches of Euro 2012.

Terry has a knee injury and will miss Sunday's home game against Manchester United, sparing him the distinct possibility of being blanked by Rio Ferdinand, and potentially several other players, in the pre-match handshakes.

Ferdinand said on Twitter that he did not want to be England captain because of "the last episode". He also does not want the vice-captaincy and a spokesman for his management company, New Era, said: "Rio just wants to concentrate on playing football."

? Tape recording 'was compelling evidence' says prosecution
? 'In one unguarded moment, Redknapp told it as it was'

Harry Redknapp "condemned himself from his own mouth" when he described to a News of the World journalist the $145,000 (�92,000) paid into his Monaco bank account as "a bonus", the jury in Redknapp's trial for tax evasion was told on Friday. Making his closing speech, the barrister for the prosecution, John Black QC, said the tape recording made by the journalist, Rob Beasley, of his conversation with Redknapp was "the most compelling and important evidence in the case".

Redknapp and the former Portsmouth owner Milan Mandaric, who both deny two counts of cheating the public revenue, have told the court that the $145,000 paid in May 2002 and a further payment of $150,000 in May 2004, were paid by Mandaric as "seed money" for investments to be made on Redknapp's behalf.

When called by Beasley to explain the account in February 2009, Redknapp had said the $145,000 was a bonus for having sold Peter Crouch at a profit in March 2002. Mandaric has said the further $150,000 (�95,000) was paid in to the Monaco account after $100,000 invested had been "a disaster", to replenish the seed money and provide Redknapp, then the manager of Portsmouth, with "a nominal profit" of �50,000. The prosecution charge is that both payments were bonuses paid to Redknapp as part of his employment and therefore tax and national insurance should have been paid, and were not.

"In one unguarded moment on a tape with a News of the World journalist, Mr Redknapp told it as it was," Black told the jury of four women and eight men at Southwark crown court, "and that, in a sense, condemns him from his own mouth."

Of the interview Beasley conducted with Redknapp, a recording of which has been played in court, Black said to the jury: "You can't really imagine a case in which you have got the most compelling evidence from the defendant himself about what all this is about."

Redknapp had told the court that he lied to Beasley because his main concern was to emphasise that the $145,000 payment was not a bung and that he did not have to tell the truth to the News of the World. He has said he never knew that Mandaric had later paid in a further $150,000.

Black said that on the tape ? "the most important and compelling evidence in the case" ? Redknapp was telling the truth to Beasley, that the payment was a bonus of 5% above what he had already been paid after the �4.5m sale of Crouch to Aston Villa in 2002.

"He could not make it plainer," Black said. "The �100,000 [the approximate sterling equivalent of $145,000] was a bonus in respect of the shortfall of the 5% ? the words come from Harry Redknapp."

The Tottenham Hotspur manager repeatedly denied the charges over two days of evidence on Wednesday and Thursday, maintaining he had no motive to evade the tax.

At times he had the jury laughing at references to his late bulldog, Rosie, whose name was attached to the account. Redknapp said the name was a security code, not the name of the account. Other witnesses, including the former Arsenal goalkeeper and television presenter Bob Wilson, testified to Redknapp's charity activities.

Telling the jury that Redknapp is guilty of cheating the public revenue, Black said: "It may not be popular to say that of a man respected in his business, a fantastic football manager, a man of very many qualities. But the fact remains this money was paid into an account in Monaco and no tax was paid on it."

Black suggested to the jury that they should ask themselves a series of questions about the credibility of Redknapp's and Mandaric's accounts of what the payments represented.

He added: "The sad and simple truth which faces us all at the end of the day is that these were bonus payments. Tax was not paid on them, and these men intended to conceal and hide that fact from the tax authorities year after year. And if that is right, whatever the background, integrity, history, activities, jobs of either of these defendants in the past, I am afraid the verdict must be one of guilty."

The trial continues on Monday, when the barristers defending Redknapp and Mandaric will make their closing speeches to the jury.

? Manchester United manager leaves decision to full-back
? United and Liverpool meet for first time since FA ban

Sir Alex Ferguson will recommend Patrice Evra does not ignore Luis Sua�rez in the pre-match handshake when they come face to face for the first time since the Football Association found the Liverpool striker guilty of racially abusing the Manchester United player and banned him for eight matches.

Ferguson intends to leave the decision to Evra when the two teams meet at Old Trafford next weekend but believes the Frenchman should not prolong the argument. "He should be applauded for what he did [reporting Su�rez], standing up to it," Ferguson said. "There is no shame for him. The matter is over. He can rise above that [ignoring the handshake]."

Evra was booed and subjected to chants branding him a liar when he played at Anfield last weekend and one supporter was arrested afterwards for allegedly making monkey gestures. "Patrice handled it OK," Ferguson continued. "I don't think he enjoyed it but he handled it OK. Patrice has already shown the courage to fight it, so he has nothing to be ashamed of. I don't think it's a problem shaking hands."

John Terry's absence with a knee injury means Ferguson will not have to speak to Rio Ferdinand to ascertain whether he is planning to shun the Chelsea captain in the pre-match handshakes at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Ferdinand had told friends he did not want to accept Terry's hand but Ferguson planned to advise him to go through with it. He said: "Rio has been fighting the racism issue for years. I've seen that in all the time I've known the lad. But there is a moment when he maybe has to rise above that."

United's injury concerns are easing, with Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Nani and Tom Cleverley all in the squad, while David de Gea should return in goal after missing the midweek win over Stoke City. Anders Lindegaard has an ankle injury that will rule him out for up to six weeks, meaning Ferguson will persist with a 21-year-old who has looked worryingly vulnerable at times this season. "The boy has got a great talent," Ferguson said of De Gea. "He has made two or three mistakes but in two or three years we won't be discussing that at all because he will have matured.

"At the moment he has found it difficult coming into the English game. It is highlighted when you make a mistake at United. It can be exaggerated. But there are mistakes and he wants to address it himself. He will do, through maturity and the understanding of the English game. It is hard when you are replacing someone like Edwin van der Sar and Peter Schmeichel because they are probably two of the greatest goalkeepers in European football over the last 40 years."

Ferguson was less charitable when it came to Alan Hansen's recent criticisms of United on Match of the Day, once again turning on the former Liverpool player. "He has tried to change it by saying he was talking about our away form but I have read his transcript and he said we were woeful for the last year and a half. He didn't mention away games. So he's dug himself into a grave really.

"He's in a responsible position and it's obvious to me he has said it the week before we played Liverpool. I can understand it because he's a former Liverpool player and Kenny [Dalglish] is his pal, so he's maybe tried to jack it up a little bit but he should be more responsible.

"When you think about it, we've played in a European Cup final, the semi-final of the FA Cup and won the league by nine points, so we couldn't have been that woeful. Jesus Christ! Maybe he's not got very good grammar."

The Football Association made the correct decision because the alternative simply did not bear thinking about

In the end, the threat of embarrassment ? real, searing embarrassment ? meant more than hurting the feelings of one man. The risk was too great for the Football Association and that is why it has made the correct decision because the alternative, quite simply, was not worth thinking about.

It takes a big leap, perhaps, but just imagine if England, captained by John Terry, had got their act in gear ahead of the European Championship and actually won the damn thing. Terry's trial for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand is eight days after the final, and what then? If he is convicted, the FA would not be able to airbrush him from the pictures.

Another trophy presentation could not be arranged. The television footage could not be doctored purely so we could have something to remember that doesn't make us glow and cringe at the same time. Terry would already have recreated the nearest thing any Englishman has had to a 1966 moment. Yes, he may be found not guilty. But the FA could not take the chance.

This is not the only reason why it has removed Terry's captaincy, but it is enough in itself. At Manchester City last season they won their first trophy for 35 years but a lot of supporters now look at the photographs of the trophy presentation with a hollow form of joy. The problem, you see, is that it is Carlos Tevez holding it aloft and, as far as they are concerned at City, Graeme Souness called it just right when he talked of the Argentinian epitomising everything that was wrong about modern-day football. Yet Tevez was never convicted of calling an opposition player a "black cunt".

Terry hasn't been either. He denies the allegations, says he feels "disgusted" and, in which case, he was probably entitled to want to keep that little piece of elasticated cloth around his left biceps. But the FA had too much to lose. The final of Euro 2008 was watched on television by around 330 million people in 231 different countries. Each game had an average audience of 155 million. This year's event will be even bigger. The FA's responsibility is for the image of the English game, not the feelings of a man who should probably never have been given a second bite at the captaincy anyway.

By overruling Fabio Capello and affronting Terry, the FA is trying to spare us from Euro 2012 turning into an ordeal not of its own making. Every press conference in Poland and Ukraine would have seen it crop up.

Every training session would have been scrutinised for signs of cliques and divisions. As the captain, Terry would have been obliged to speak before every match. Even if the English press pack had eventually left him alone, the foreign journalists would not have. Every time a black player walked through the mixed zone someone would have stuck out a microphone. The questions can be couched in many different ways but they would all boil down to one thing: pro-Terry or anti-Terry?

Some may think it is wrong to be bothered by these things, that the media has done enough to disrupt England and the FA should rise above it. But this is the way of modern-day football. It is there, it is not going to change and, as England should know from experience, it can be a monster in major tournaments. The controversy would have fastened on like a tick on the side of a dog, getting worse all the time.

That is not to say shifting Terry a couple of places down the lineup entirely removes the problem. On the assumption that he resists any temptation to tell the FA to sling it, his trial is still going to provide a permanent backdrop to whatever else happens in Capello's final few weeks as manager. Terry can actually regard himself as fortunate in one respect in that football seems to operate by different rules from just about every other profession. Any other employee of a large company would already have been suspended on full pay for an allegation of this seriousness, pending the outcome of the case. It is standard procedure outside of the football bubble and, if it were applied here, we wouldn't have the sideshow of Rio Ferdinand now contemplating what it is going to be like sharing the same oxygen with the man accused of abusing his younger brother. Note the message on the Manchester United defender's Twitter account after the trial date was set: "I feel insulted ? woke up with a bad taste in my mouth ? its a god damn joke!"In truth, footballers are pretty good at rolling their sleeves up and getting on with the business of trying to outscore the other team. But it is far from ideal. One of the key revelations this week is that Terry detected before the last England game he had a problem with some of his international team-mates. They weren't completely blanking him but they were standoffish enough for it to be obvious. It was frosty and never fully resolved. Rio Ferdinand is a popular player within the England dressing room and you wonder what will have to be done to make things bearable behind the scenes.

How does Ashley Cole deal with it? Will Wayne Rooney be caught in the middle? What if Danny Welbeck, a young, black, Manchester United footballer who looks up to Ferdinand as one of his heroes, gets called up? Jason Roberts has predicted it would be "toxic" and, even if that is not quite the correct word, it is threatening to be awkward, tense and potentially volatile. Capello needs togetherness. If he does not think Ferdinand and Terry can work together, he has a difficult decision to make. One will have to be sacrificed.

Terry's sympathisers argue that the decision warps the boundaries of innocent until proven guilty, and this was a common worry among David Bernstein's colleagues when he started the process of canvassing their views. Except removing the captaincy is not prejudicial if it is simply an interim approach. It is not presuming guilt or innocence, merely accepting that the FA has a lot of things to consider and, all in all, it needs to suspend judgment. Yes, it is going to create a lot of headlines and opinion but it is not the FA's job to worry whether that affects the thinking of a district judge at Westminster magistrates court in five months' time.

Newspapers and broadcasters employ lawyers to look after that. The FA's duty should be purely about what is right and wrong in football terms.

What happens if any of England's black players are racially abused by the crowds in Poland or Ukraine? Let's face it, this scenario is more likely than England winning the competition. We know the story by now: the FA complains to Uefa, puts out a statement then gets very indignant, with good reason, that not enough is being done about it. The problem is, it is difficult to take the moral high ground when 9 July is circled into the FA's diary in black marker pen. Who, in ordinary circumstances, would be wheeled out after Capello to speak on behalf of the players and condemn it? That's right, the England captain.

Perhaps Terry regrets that letter from Chelsea's chief executive, Ron Gourlay, asking the judge to delay the trial until out of season.

Defendants are not usually treated so obligingly. If they were, Tottenham Hotspur and Harry Redknapp could have asked for his court case to be put off to this summer, too.

Instead we have an alleged public order offence from autumn 2011 going to court in summer 2012 because the judge was told it would be difficult for Terry and anybody else who might be needed from Chelsea to take time off during the season. Terry's commitments with the England team were also taken into account. It is bizarre. Even if Chelsea reach the Champions League final there are two weeks in March, two in April and three in May when there are no Tuesday-to-Friday fixtures.

"The FA board expected the trial to be concluded prior to the European Championship," the statement from FA headquarters read. So did Capello, the Ferdinands and everyone at QPR. As Mark Hughes says: "I think everybody believes it has been dragging on forever. From my point of view, and certainly Anton's, [we] would have preferred it to be done and dusted by now. I think everybody would."

There is nothing anyone can do about that now and Capello, overruled and undermined, is back to picking a new captain and wondering why it is that English football has this habit of taking a 12-bore to its own foot. One day, he will write a book about all this madness. Terry ? 72 caps, six goals, two captaincies and more controversy than he will wish to remember ? will feature in every chapter.

? Portsmouth v Hull and Doncaster v Reading off
? Multiple games in League One and League Two off

Freezing conditions across the country have forced the postponement of a vast number of games in the Football League this weekend.

The most high profile games to have been called off are the Championship ties between Portsmouth and Hull at Fratton Park and Reading's match at Doncaster Rovers.

The match referee at Portsmouth, Darren Sheldrake, said: "After looking at the pitch this morning the area in front of the south stand was significantly frozen. You couldn't get a key in the ground.

"With that area in shade for the whole of the day, in my opinion it's not going to defrost enough for the pitch to be playable and I have to keep player safety in mind."

In League One, Bournemouth v Exeter, Bury v Hartlepool, Charlton v Rochdale, Colchester v Sheffield United, Notts County v Stevenage, Oldham v Leyton Orient, Preston v Brentford and Scunthorpe v Walsall have all been postponed too. Bournemouth v Exeter has been rescheduled for Tuesday 7 February at 7.45pm, while Bury v Hartlepool will now be played on Tuesday 28 February, also at 7.45pm.

In League Two, the following matches have been postponed: Aldershot v Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham v AFC Wimbledon (re-scheduled for Tuesday 21 February at 7.45pm), Crewe v Accrington Stanley, Gillingham v Hereford, Morecambe v Dagenham & Redbridge, Northampton v Macclesfield, Oxford v Barnet, Rotherham v Torquay, Shrewsbury v Port Vale (re-scheduled for Tuesday, 27 March at 7.45pm) and Swindon v Burton.

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John Terry was removed as England captain Friday as he awaits trial for racial abuse, but the Chelsea defender will remain eligible to play for the national team at the European Championship.

Fans storming the pitch, fighting and being stampeded to death are scenes that have replayed over and over.

Borussia Dortmund opened a three-point lead in the Bundesliga, beating Nuremberg 2-0 Friday night on goals by Sebastian Kehl and Lucas Barrios.