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 .
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 .