England manager Capello resigns

2:52 PM, February 8, 2012 ι By NewsCore

LONDON -- England soccer manager Fabio Capello on Wednesday submitted his resignation with immediate effect, the Football Association (FA) announced.

The FA said the 65-year-old Italian's resignation was submitted following a meeting to discuss the FA's "decision to remove the England team captaincy from John Terry" and Capello's subsequent "response through an Italian broadcast interview."

Terry was stripped of his captaincy last week pending his racism trial. The Chelsea skipper is accused of racially-abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, the younger brother of Terry's national teammate Rio Ferdinand, during an English Premier League game in October.

Capello, who was set to walk away from the England job following the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine, voiced his displeasure about the FA's move to strip Terry's armband.

"I completely disagree with the FA about the John Terry decision and I have told that to the chairman," Capello said in an interview with Italian state broadcaster Rai 1.

"The court will decide. It's going to be civil justice, not sports justice, to decide if John Terry committed that crime that he is accused of."

Following Capello's harsh critique, a meeting was scheduled to discuss the matter with FA chairman David Bernstein and FA general secretary Alex Horne.

The trio reportedly met for over an hour, which ended with Capello submitting his resignation with immediate effect.

"I would like to stress that during today's (Wednesday) meeting and throughout his time as England Manager, Fabio has conducted himself in an extremely professional manner," Bernstein said in a statement. "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."