Fabio Capello Resigns as England Manager

Fabio Capello resigned as England manager on Wednesday night, after a meeting with the Football Association at Wembley.

On a day that saw the odds on favourite to replace the Italian, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, cleared of two charges of tax evasion, Capello called time on his four year tenure with the national side just four months before the start of the European Championships.

Capello met with the FA chairman David Bernstein and general secretary Alex Horne at Wembley in order to explain his public challenge of their decision to depose of John Terry as England captain

An FA statement read: "The Football Association can confirm that Fabio Capello has today resigned as England Manager.

"This follows a meeting involving FA chairman David Bernstein, FA general secretary Alex Horne and Fabio Capello at Wembley Stadium.

"The discussions focused on the FA Board's decision to remove the England team captaincy from John Terry, and Fabio Capello's response through an Italian broadcast interview.

"In a meeting for over an hour, Fabio's resignation was accepted and he will leave the post of England manager with immediate effect."

In the immediate aftermath of their seemingly fruitless meeting at the home of football, Bernstein said: "I would like to stress that during [the] 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."

A media conference has been scheduled at Wembley Stadium on Thursday at 1200 GMT where Bernstein and the Club England management will explain the succession plan to Capello in the build-up to EURO 2012.

On Sunday evening, Capello appeared to issue a direct challenge to the FA's decision to revoke the England captaincy from Terry.

"I completely disagree with the FA about the John Terry decision and I have told that to the chairman" Capello told Italian television station Rai 1, as published in the Daily Mail.

"I spoke to the chairman and I told him that I don't think someone can be punished until it becomes official,

"The court will decide. It's going to be civil justice, not sports justice, to decide if John Terry committed the crime he is accused of. I thought it fair that John Terry keeps the captain's armband."

Terry was deposed on Friday as a consequence of his trial, for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, being delayed until 9 July which is eight days after the EURO 2012 final.

The trial had been expected to have been concluded prior to the tournament in Poland and the Ukraine, but having been informed of the date of Terry's case, the FA ruled that the Chelsea captain could not be allowed to lead England given the severity of the charges. Capello was not involved in the decision to remove Terry.