England coach Fabio Capello dramatically quit just four months before the European Championship after publicly challenging the Football Association’s decision to remove John Terry as captain.

The FA says that “in a meeting for over an hour, Fabio’s resignation was accepted and he will leave the post of England manager with immediate effect.”

The FA were completely unaware of the fact that Capello intended to criticise their board decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy over his forthcoming racist abuse trial.

Capello made a direct challenge to the authority of his FA employers when he told Italian TV station Rai that he still wanted Terry to be his captain.

It is understood Bernstein had expected Capello to first inform the FA of any comments he intended to make about the sensitive issue of the captaincy, as is usual with FA media policy.

After an hour long meeting FA Chairman David Bernstein said in a statement: “I would like to stress that during today’s meeting and throughout his time as England Manager, Fabio has conducted himself in an extremely professional manner.

“We have accepted Fabio’s resignation, agreeing this is the right decision. We would like to thank Fabio for his work with the England team and wish him every success in the future.”

Bernstein and the FA directors have chosen to take the captaincy off Terry while he awaits trial for a racially-aggravated public order offence, and they reached the decision without first consulting Fabio Capello.

The Italian, the FA openly admit, was furious. But when a line alluding to that in the official statement from the organisation was removed, the FA expected to be kept in the loop when Capello did have his say, as per protocol.

Instead, the manager gave an interview to Italian TV in the absence of FA media minders and had officials scrambling for an accurate translation of his controversial comments.

Asked by the TV interviewer whether he was in agreement with the decision to strip Terry of the captaincy, Capello replied: “No, absolutely not. I spoke with the chairman (David Bernstein) and I told him that I don’t think someone can be punished until it
becomes official. The court will decide.” FA chairman Mr Bernstein said.

A media conference with David Bernstein and the Club England Management team will take place at Wembley on at 12 noon today.

The FA will not be making any further comment until the media conference.