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Deposed Terry given 5-day break by AVB

Comment: 0 February 10th, 2012 by: admin

EMBROILED in the turmoil leading to the ouster of Fabio Capello as England coach, John Terry found a way to ease his worries on Thursday.

The deposed Three Lions captain left the country for a mini-break after Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas gave him a five days rest.

Villas-Boas stressed that the Blues defender got some time off because of his knee injury and not because of the captaincy issue.

Terry reportedly flew to Portugal with his family.

As a result, he would miss Chelsea’s match Saturday at Everton.

Villas-Boas also defended Chelsea in relation to the events that paved the way for the resignation of Capello on Wednesday.

The Portuguese mentor insisted that his side cannot be blamed for what happened to the Italian, whose sacking was mainly attributed to his show of support to Terry.

“Whatever the consequences of events that ran after, we had nothing to do with it,” he said.

Capello had stated he still considered Terry as team captain despite the FA’s decision to strip the latter of the armband.

The FA handed their verdict pending the result of Terry’s trial in July over a charge of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand. Terry had denied the charge.

Chelsea had appealed to the district judge for the trail to be delayed until after Terry’s domestic and international football duties were over for this term.

Villas-Boas also stated he believes England will struggle to find a replacement of Capello’s calibre but added it would be an “outstanding progression” if Harry Redknapp is appointed to take charge.

According to FA Chairman David Bernstein, the next England manager must above all be “the best person available.”

The Three Lions will face Holland in a friendly on 29 February, with England Under-21 and Great Britain Olympic team boss Stuart Pearce assigned as caretaker.

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