John Terry waves goodbye to his chances of captaining England at Euro 2012

The FA have been criticised for not consulting Capello before they made the decision, while Capello is reportedly in trouble for undermining their authority. Capello’s contract expires in the summer after the European Championships but this latest incident has led to calls for the FA to sack him now. While this is unlikely to happen what it does highlight is the complex and strained relationship between the England manager and the FA, which is not a good sign. However the issue is resolved it is just another example of how England continue to create unwanted distractions in build-ups to major tournaments. With four months to go until Euro 2012 fans want to see stability and cohesion not controversy and disarray.

It is not the first time Terry has been embroiled in controversy over his role as captain. In February 2010 Capello stripped him of the captaincy following allegations of his private life, only to reinstate him as skipper just over a year later for England’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales last March. Debate is now in full flow about who will be the man to lead England at the European Championships. Capello has used a total of seven different captains during his time with England and has a very big decision to make. Steven Gerrard is the favourite in the betting, with the likes of Scott Parker and Joe Hart also contenders.

England are in action later this month at Wembley when they face Holland in a friendly on 29th February.

Hiddink managed the Blues between February and May 2009, leading them to FA Cup glory. He is a hugely popular figure at Stamford Bridge and it is no secret that Abramovich is a big admirer. The Dutchman was reportedly Abramovich’s number one target in the summer after the club sacked Carlo Ancelotti but despite being the odds-on favourite to join the club he remained loyal to Turkey. The 65-year-old insists that he will now take his time before deciding on his next career move but has admitted that he had a wonderful time while at Chelsea. Meanwhile, Hiddink has reportedly already received a world-record salary offer to join the ambitious Russian big-spenders Anzhi Makhachkala.

As for Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas he has had his odds trimmed in the last few weeks from 40/1 to 20/1 in the Next Premier League Manager To Be Sacked Betting. The 34-year-old has endured a rocky ride recently, as two defeats in Chelsea’s last three league matches has seen them drop nine points behind league leaders Manchester City. Furthermore the on-going John Terry racism row has been an unwanted distraction and £50m striker Fernando Torres has still yet to rediscover the form that made him such a lethal player at Liverpool.

Chelsea face a difficult match at home to Liverpool on Sunday, which is live on Sky Sports 1 at 4pm. Their last home fixture was a stunning 5-3 defeat to Arsenal and they will be desperate to bounce back from that painful result. Liverpool beat Chelsea both home and away last season and have won five of the last 10 league meetings between the sides. However, Chelsea are the 4/5 favourite to win the match, while Liverpool represent good value at 7/2, with a draw available at 5/2. Paddy Power are offering a cracking money-back special whereby if Fernando Torres scores a goal at anytime in the match then they will refund all losing first/last goalscorer, correct score & scorecast singles on the match.

All odds provided by Paddy Power.

Chelsea had their temperament criticised after going down to nine men in the defeat to West London rivals QPR, which resulted in a £20,000 fine from the FA for failing to control their players. Their usually resilient defence has been uncharacteristically error strewn this season with the back four failing to keep a clean sheet since the opening day of the season. Chelsea shipped in five goals at home to Arsenal on Saturday, the first time they had conceded this number of goals in a match at the Bridge in 22 years. Villas-Boas has insisted that Chelsea will not abandon their attacking philosophy despite the manner of their defeat against The Gunners, however, he will know that you cannot hope to win the Premier League with a leaky defence and something needs to be done soon to tighten up the wobbly back-line.

History tells us that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is certainly not afraid to send a manager packing if performances are not up to scratch and he will no doubt be concerned with events both on and off the field during the past couple of weeks. Villas-Boas needs to find a way of getting Chelsea out of their recent slump, and fast. If they are not careful the title race will soon become a two-horse race between the Manchester clubs,  and with Newcastle, Tottenham and Liverpool all in good form Chelsea could be in danger of falling out of the top four. Their recent stumbling have seen their odds drift slightly to 7/1 to win the Premier League title while Villas-Boas still has long odds of 40/1 in the Next Premier League Manager To Be Sacked Betting, but expect these to shorten if they lose at the weekend.

Up next for Chelsea is a trip to Ewood Park this Saturday to face struggling Blackburn Rovers. It’s a game that they really should win considering that Rovers have just one win to their name all season and Chelsea are unbeaten against them in 10 matches. Chelsea are the odds-on 4/9 favourites for the win with Paddy Power while Rovers are priced at 13/2 to come away with only their second league win of the season, with a draw available at 16/5.

All odds supplied by Paddy Power.

Capello under pressure ahead of Wales game?

England are currently second in their Euro 2012 qualifying group, three points behind leaders Montenegro, but with a game in hand. In contrast Wales have had a dismal start to their Euro 2012 campaign, losing their first three matches. However, the possibility of defeating rivals England in front of a packed partisan crowd at the Millennium Stadium could be just the antidote they need to get their faint qualification hopes back on track.

The fact that Capello has opted for Terry above other senior members of the England squad, such as Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard could cause unnecessary unrest within a squad still recovering from their woeful World Cup performance in South Africa. If reports are true that Capello didn’t even inform Ferdinand of his decision this could potentially outrage both the player and England supporters – many of whom are already at their wits end with the Italian. When Ferdinand eventually returns from his calf injury it will be interesting to see how Capello’s decision to snatch the armband from the defender’s passionate grasp will affect his partnership with Terry at the back.

If England were to lose to Wales, speculation will no doubt  increase surrounding Capello’s future with England, with Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp waiting in the wings to become the new England manager according to VC Bet.

In fairness to Ancelotti there is no doubt that the club seems to have suffered a dip in form since the John Terry scandal broke and he has faced a tough month or two in defending his captain, while publicly the players and staff are saying all the right things it is clear that results have dropped off since the John Terry issue arose.

Chelsea have won just five games in their last 11 on a run that included a disappointing Champions League exit at the hands of former boss Jose Mourinho and Inter Milan, the style of the performance against Inter is a worrying sign for the club as the team were comprehensively outplayed. The team looked an ageing outfit against Inter and Ancelotti must surely realise that the squad will need to be overhauled over the next couple of seasons if is to bring success to the Bridge. That worrying defeat was followed with a lacklustre draw at Blackburn which saw the club slip off of the top of the table and hand the Premier League initiative to Man United and Arsenal.

The Sack Race understands that Ancelotti’s position will be reviewed at the end of the season so a strong finish for Ancelotti will be essential if he is to convince Abramovich he is the man to take the club forward. They remain the biggest club remaining in the FA Cup and will fancy their chances of winning the competition which may well soften the blow. They are still very much in the title race at the moment with an upcoming game against Man United which may well prove crucial to the destination of the title as well as going a long way to deciding the future of Carlo Ancelotti. A poor run to the end of the campaign could see the Blues finish behind both Man United and Arsenal which is unlikely to be good enough for Ancelotti to extend his stay in Englaand past one season with the clubs owners and fans desperate for success.

Will Terry be leading England in South Africa?

We are just a few months away from the opening game of England’s World Cup campaign against the USA in Rustenburg but Fabio Capello is already facing his first selection headache, its not whether or not David Beckham should be in the squad or whether Michael Owen has done enough to be on the plane as he was expecting it to be in the build up to South Africa. Of course the Italian is now faced with the tough decision over whether or not to keep John Terry as the Captain of the England Team in the light of recent allegations about an extra marital affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge.

Terry has been plastered all over the front and back of the tabloids for days now and there is no sign of the speculation dying down anytime soon, this has left Fabio Capello with a tough and perhaps crucial decision to make over his future. The FA have said that it is Capello’s decision as to what happens with Terry but they are also under pressure to act on the matter with public interest growing by the second, they and Capello will want to clear the whole mess up as quickly as possible with the World Cup looming an a friendly against Egypt on the horizon at the start of March.

The main issue surely lies in one question and that is; Have John Terry’s actions affected morale within the England Camp? There is no better man that Capello to answer that question and it is almost impossible to form an opinion on that unless speaking to other squad members as well as the coaching staff which Capello is bound to do. Capello has been a strong disciplinarian since taking th England job and that is not a good sign for JT, Capello may well want to show a sign of force and that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated by any member of the squad in a World Cup year. Having said that, Capello thought Terry was the man for the job when he took over and he may want to back his man all the way in the hope that the whole mess will blow over in a couple of weeks, that of course is a huge risk if their is discontent within the ranks as being reported.

Only Capello will know if he was going to select Bridge as the second left-back in the World Cup squad and that will now need careful consideration, if Terry and Bridge do play together in an England shirt then the press interest will be huge every time they pass the ball to each other. It will be a big shame if Wayne Bridge retires from England duty as a result of this scandal as is being reported, but with the World Cup just around the corner but there may be no other option for the former Chelsea player who has said he will not be commenting on the scandal at any stage. There are several names in the frame to replace John Terry in the Next England Captain Betting with Steven Gerrard the obvious choice to replace him, Rio Ferdinand is another choice but has proven injury prone this season, an interesting outside bet would be Wayne Rooney who is in great form and may relish the chance to lead the side.

Wayne Bridge is a well liked player by all accounts and if senior England players are upset with John Terry then Capello will have no choice but to strip the Chelsea Captain of the national armband, Capello is set to make his decision in the next few days and the Sack Race like all England fans will be watching the story with interest. This could well be the biggest moment in the England career of Fabio Capello, the wrong decision from the Gaffer here and the World Cup hopes of a nation could go down the drain.

Let’s take our minds back to May 21st 2008 when John Terry stepped up to take the penalty that would have secured Chelsea the Champions League over arch rivals Man Utd. At that moment Avram Grant despite all the anti media sentiment had led Chelsea to the brink of their very first Champions League win and with it the possibility of a long future as manager of the club.

18 months on and we all know the consequences of that penalty miss, Grant got the sack and was in the wilderness for quite some time until he took a role at struggling Portsmouth, that has resulted in him being given the Managers job. The club are in disarray with no direction and big financial troubles, that has meant that players have not been paid their wages during the year due to cash flow issues. It is believed that so bad is the situation that Grant is going to have to sell players at this new year transfer window and if things could not get worse about five of his players will be leaving for the guts of a month to play in the African Nations trophy.
Those of you rushing to check out the next premier league manager to be sacked betting let me save you a journey as the odds suggest that he is one of the managers under little pressure to keep his job. This is not only just down to the fact that he has just taken the job on but also their is just no money to get a new one, nor one desperate enough to take it on! So who says money does not buy success!!

There had been much rumor this week as we outlined here on the sack race on Friday when it was reported that Gus Hiddink had been approached and this was what really impacted on the next premier league manager to be sacked odds.  Mark Hughes’s price for being the next to be axed was reduced by the bookies to as short as 1/2 odds on to go. As Man City played Sunderland the decision had been made and a couple of the players had been informed and we all knew the game was up as Mark Hughes gave the fans a good bye wave at the end of their 4-3 victory.

There is no question that football managers in the Premier League must produce or else they will be assigned to the scrap heap. Hughes with a budget as big as his and having spent over £200 million could not save himself even though they are in a decent position in the league and his team had done okay in the first half of the season. Some may consider this action as a little premature, with City showing signs of being a really good side and making it into the Champions League next season and getting one of the four top places in the Premier League. Hughes had assembled a very good squad and the main weakness had been the defence which he had tried to get the very best at the start of the season including John Terry but had to resort to taking in Lescott when Terry turned his advances down.

So City now look to the Italian Roberto Mancini for inspiration, he takes over a team that had begun the bonding process and we hope that this move is an inspired one for the Eastlands club, however we have some doubts that this move will see the immediate impact that the Abu Dhabi owners are looking for.