text: Fabio Capello claimed John Terry is still England’s best defender and maintained he should never have been stripped of his captaincy. Speaking about the Terry race row for the first time since leaving his post as England manager, Capello said England would be in a much stronger position if they still had the Chelsea stalwart at their disposal. ‘I think John is England’s best defender and they have not got a lot of defenders,’ said Capello, ‘It is better to have a player like John than not have him.’ Fabio Capello insists defender John Terry should never have been stripped of the England captaincy . Capello claims England would be in a much stronger position if they still had the Chelsea star at their disposal . The Italian was in charge of the national side when Terry was accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, the brother of then England teammate Rio, during a Chelsea match against QPR in October 2011. He was stripped of his captaincy by the Football Association after being charged by police. Capello resigned as England Manager in February 2012 just two days after publicly criticising the FA’s decision and obviously remains bitter about the whole affair. He believes Terry should have kept his role under the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven. ‘I fought for John to be able to come back and play but they [the Football Association] said “no you can’t decide about the player, you need to wait for the court decision,” and I said “Why?” But they had already decided before I asked. John Terry was caught up in a race controversy with then-QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in 2011 . Chelsea captain Terry, who has 78 England caps, retired from international football in September 2012 . Asked if it was time to persuade Terry, who has been a permanent fixture in the Chelsea side bound for the Premier League title, to come back into the England fold, Capello - speaking at the Laureus World Sports Awards - directed his ire at the FA. ‘You know what happened with me, they decided he could not play with the national team and I didn’t understand because he was not guilty. ‘When it happened I said to the President [David Bernstein] “You decided he’s guilty?” No he’s not guilty, it’s good you can play with the national team and I don’t understand why you don’t play.’ Terry was cleared of racially abusing Ferdinand in a criminal hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court but retired from international football in September 2012 after the FA pursued their own charges. An FA hearing found Terry, who has 78 England caps, guilty of using insulting words which included a reference to Anton Ferdinand’s colour or race and he was banned for four matches and fined £220,000, . Terry, 34, said he was ‘deeply hurt’ by the incident and will never play for England again. Capello agreed his international career was probably over. ‘I don’t think he has the chances to play with the national team more,’ said Capello, ‘But I saw some young players that played with me are improving. [Chris] Smalling is playing and [Phil] Jones. I’m happy because a lot of players I put in the national team are playing now and well.’ The Chelsea defender was cleared in court of racially abusing Ferdinand but was banned and fined by the FA .
target: Fabio Capello believes England would be much stronger with John Terry .
  Terry was  accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand back in 2011 .
  The defender was stripped of the England captaincy by the FA .
  Former England boss Capello believes Terry should have kept his role .