Terry's England role wasn't untenable: FA chief

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Football Association general secretary Alex Horne insists John Terry, seen here in June 2012, did not need to retire from England duty ahead of the disciplinary hearing into allegations that he racially abused QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

LONDON - Football Association general secretary Alex Horne insists John Terry did not need to retire from England duty ahead of the disciplinary hearing into allegations that he racially abused QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

Terry shocked English football on Sunday when he announced he was making himself unavailable for international selection after growing increasingly frustrated by the FA’s decision to charge him, despite being cleared in a criminal case this year.

The Chelsea skipper, who had already been stripped of the England captaincy by the FA when the claims first emerged, believes the organisation’s decision to pursue a case against him has made his position in the national team “untenable”.

But Horne, speaking ahead of Terry’s disciplinary hearing on Monday, made it clear he felt the FA had done nothing wrong.

“It’s a personal decision. I don’t see how we’ve made it untenable, they’re two very separate processes,” Horne told Sky Sports News on his way into FA headquarters at Wembley on Monday.

“It’s something that happened in a match — it shouldn’t be taking a year to resolve but we feel we’re reaching a conclusion on that.

“That’s a very different process from our England procedures, they sit in different compartments and I could separate the two in my mind, but it doesn’t look like he could.”

Terry could face a lengthy club ban if found guilty of using racist language during the Premier League match against QPR on October 23 last year.