FA leaves Terry issue in Capello's hands

Football Association chief executive Ian Watmore will not directly intervene following the allegations that England captain John Terry took cash payments to lay on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Chelsea training ground.

A Sunday newspaper claimed Terry accepted £10,000 (€11,200) in cash at Chelsea’s Cobham training headquarters to arrange the visit for an undercover reporter.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has defended club skipper Terry, and Watmore will leave it up to England manager Fabio Capello to deal with any national team issues.

Watmore told the Guardian: “I see our role as appointing the manager and his team in this case. Having appointed Fabio and co, it’s their call on all matters to do with the playing side and the captaincy. It’s as simple as that.

“From the club’s point of view, they have to take up whatever issues they think are relevant.

“But from our point of view, he’s eligible to play for England, the manager wants him to captain England, we’ve done extraordinarily well under the combination of those two and that’s it really.”

Chelsea have defended Terry, stressing they are confident he did not “ask for or accept money” for visits.

The News of the World claimed Terry took a £10,000 (€11,200) payment, £8,000 (€9,000) of which he wanted to go to the ’Make A Wish’ charity for children with the other £2,000 (€2,200) going to a middleman.

Watmore said: “It really doesn’t help anybody if we back-seat drive from here. We’ve appointed Fabio and one of the reasons we appointed Fabio was because he has a good record in managing players on and off the field. It’s his job so to do and we’ll leave it at that.”