• Chelsea manager laments how ’social stories’ dominate game
• Captain ‘amazing’ not to let court case affect performances

André Villas-Boas believes the furore around the John Terry racism allegation is leaving a blemish on the image of the English game. “It is an unfortunate event, with consequences, and it doesn’t dignify British football, to be fair,” said the Chelsea coach in the aftermath of another controversial development as Terry was stripped of the England captaincy.

As Villas-Boas spent another press conference assailed by questions which relate to matters that have little to do with Chelsea’s match against Manchester United on Sunday, he lamented the way “social stories” dominate the agenda in English football.

“I think in the Premier League there is always a pattern of these kind of stories appearing, what each player does outside of the pitch,” the Chelsea manager said. “We had it in various different cases, we and other clubs. We have to let the people get called to court and the court to make the necessary decision.”

Managing a squad whose most influential player has been at the centre of such a sensitive issue – which has been debated across the media, inside every football stadium Chelsea visit, in Football Association meeting rooms and courtrooms as Terry still awaits trial – has been an eye-opener for a man trying to make headway in his first season in England.

Villas-Boas admitted there is very little to prepare a coach for how to deal with all the ramifications of the kind of social stories which have also ramped up the pressure at Liverpool and Manchester United over the Luis Suárez-Patrice Evra case and Manchester City with the Carlos Tevez predicament.

“It comes with the job and, as you gain experiences, you know how to deal with it better,” he said. “On that sense John has been amazing in terms of his off-field events not affecting his on-field performances.”

Villas-Boas suggested that Terry’s capacity apparently to thrive on adversity has in a perverse way suited Chelsea, and he sees no reason why the same would not apply for England, should Fabio Capello continue to select the centre-back. “For us, we benefit. Hopefully for his country it will continue to be the same. I’m not saying it fuels him, that he needs negativity, but he has been outstanding,” Villas-Boas said.

A knee injury rules Terry out of action this weekend. But fitness permitting, the coach has no qualms about playing him as soon as possible. Chelsea are adamant they will stand by their undisputed captain until there is any reason arising from his trial to do otherwise.

It is hard to imagine a more challenging debut season in an overseas league for a young manager but Villas-Boas broke into a wry smile as he paused to reflect on the experience so far. “It’s exciting and adventurous and magnificent – at the moment,” he said. There is no doubt that Chelsea’s position off the Premier League pace rankles, however. “There was a click of two games that made us lose track. And because we had so many emotions going on for that particular game against QPR and the impact it had on us for continuing to challenge for the title, I am sure I would come back again at the end of the season and say that was the key for us not to be champions.

“We should have a lot more points, that’s the reality, which is why there is that heaviness of a year that is not going well. We need to find a sequence of results to make us explode.”

Despite the inroads made by Manchester City this season, Villas-Boas believes United remain the benchmark. “I think so, bearing in mind the injuries they had which are now returning. I think they will be the ones to beat. Although the distance to Man City is equal to nothing, they will be the main favourites.”

ChelseaAndré Villas-BoasJohn TerryAmy Lawrence
guardian.co.uk

• Chelsea star stripped of England captaincy for second time
• Senior players unhappy before autumn friendlies

The Football Association’s decision to remove the England captaincy from John Terry has left him contemplating whether to quit international football in protest and comes at a time when he is facing a potential mutiny within Fabio Capello’s squad. Terry’s demotion was confirmed in a 10am phone call on Friday after David Bernstein, the FA chairman, informed Capello he was being overruled because the FA could not allow the Chelsea player to continue in the role after his trial for allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand was scheduled to begin on 9 July, eight days after the European Championship

Chairman emerges with credit after bypassing Fabio Capello and grasping the nettle of John Terry’s court case

This is unusual territory for the Football Association in more ways than one. The governing body finds itself in the unfamiliar position of being widely, if quietly, praised for its handling of a toxic and difficult situation – outside Cobham and Stamford Bridge, at least.

Not for the first time the FA chairman, David Bernstein, has emerged with credit for calm, decisive action amid evidence of greater steel atop an organisation too often buffeted by events. The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said: “This is not necessarily a popular thing to say, but I’m impressed with David Bernstein. He’s a very calm hand on the tiller. He seems to get the balance right. He calmly rang round the board, made a decision and pressed ahead with it. He did it in the right way.”

There was a sense of deja vu this week, as pressure built on the FA to act. They had been here before in Feburary 2010, when Terry was accused of an alleged affair with a former team-mate’s ex-partner. But it is a measure of the speed of turnover at the top of the organisation over the past decade that the inhabitants of both the chairman and chief executive chairs have changed since then.

Then, the chief executive Ian Watmore chose to handle the situation by attempting to clear enough air space to allow the decision to be made by Fabio Capello, though the Italian seemed to show little appetite for it, insisting the captaincy was a matter for the coach.

The issues were different this time. But Bernstein resolved to take the matter out of Capello’s hands reasoning, say insiders, that the issue was not simply a football matter but a broader one.

Bernstein’s statement, delivered direct to camera in Pravda-esque fashion from a Wembley box, made this explicit: “Fabio Capello has not been involved in the FA board discussions which reached this conclusion, but understands that the FA board has authority to make this decision.”

Bernstein’s move to bring the Club England wing of the organisation back under the jurisdiction of the FA chairman is also significant, allowing for swifter decision-making.

It has hard to imagine the famously low-key Geoff Thompson, Bernstein’s predecessor but one, putting his head above the parapet in such a way. And such was the level of vicious infighting during the David Triesman era, it is equally difficult to see him building a consensus for swift action in the way that Bernstein did.

Bernstein is quiet too. But quietly effective. Once Terry’s case was adjourned to July he consulted his 13 fellow board members, a number swelled since the addition of non-executive directors Heather Rabbatts and Roger Devlin last month, by phone on Thursday. The majority shared his view and Bernstein called the Chelsea player himself on Friday morning to inform him of the decision.

Rather than worrying about precedent or previous cases, he judged the situation on the facts before him and shifted course when circumstances changed. There is a valid debate about whether the FA should have acted earlier, especially once Terry was charged in December, but Bernstein can point to the widespread belief that the case was to be settled before the European Championship.

There is talk of a more businesslike approach in the Wembley boardroom since Bernstein arrived in January last year. Premier League insiders make increasingly positive noises about relations with their counterparts at Wembley, while good relations with Uefa have been fostered.

The former Manchester City and Wembley chairman has been criticised for his lack of dynamism in public. But following a period during which the FA churned through six chief executives and three chairmen in a decade, who all jumped or pushed for a variety of reasons, his calmly resolute stance might be just what it needs. He will need every ounce of it for battles to come. The FA is going into a major tournament with a coach who will leave at its end, no discernible succession plan in place and a now former captain facing a racism charge weeks after it concludes. Meanwhile, football’s response to government calls for change in the way the game is governed is due by the end of the month, with the composition of the FA board a sticking point. And for any stability to endure, the FA’s statutes will have to be changed if the 68-year-old Bernstein is to carry on beyond his 70th birthday in May 2013.

There will be no immediate respite either. Already, many are questioning whether it is a sustainable position to strip Terry of the captaincy but not suspend him altogether. Atop the dysfunctional FA, balancing inertia and knee-jerk reaction while being buffeted by the demands of the media and avoiding being undone from within by politicking or from without by the demands of the professional game has often seemed an impossible job. Bernstein seems to have got the balance about right. For now, at least.

John TerryThe FAEnglandChelseaFootball politicsOwen Gibson
guardian.co.uk