Mike Newell has criticised both the Football Association and now departed England boss Fabio Capello for the way they handled stripping John Terry of the Three Lions captaincy.
The game’s governing body took the armband from the Chelsea defender last week after his court case over an alleged racist remark to QPR counterpart Anton Ferdinand was put back till after the summer’s European Championships.
Capello has since resigned from his £6 million a year post after he appeared on Italian television to announce his dissatisfaction that the decision was taken above his head.
And former Luton Town manager Newell believes the situation was dealt with poorly from start to finish.
“As a manager you have to be in a strong position and Fabio Capello obviously felt he wasn’t,” he said in a radio interview, adding: “The problem I’ve got with that is that the Football Association should have made the decision that they’ve made when John Terry was charged with this offence, if they are talking about principles.
“Fabio Capello made a stand to have control but he should have made his decision when they made theirs, which was last week. It’s alright saying about principles. Yes, he has to be strong and he has to say, ‘you can’t pick my team for me and you can’t make those decisions for me’, but I think they are both
