England expects: Pearce took charge of the recent defeat to Holland

Even though the disruption is far from ideal, a senior FA figure today stated England were 'in a better position today than we were three weeks ago', pointing out that the lack of hostility to Capello's exit meant FA chairman David Bernstein did the right thing in accepting the Italian's resignation over the dispute about John Terry's status as captain.

Indeed, Horne confirmed that is the single area where the new manager will be told what is not acceptable.

'The FA board have made their view on John's captaincy clear so I think we'd make that very clear to the incoming manager," he said.

'While the charge is in place, the FA board's decision is that John should not be captain.

'I wouldn't expect an incoming manager to challenge that particularly hard if they want the job.'

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