Pearce takes control of England

Stuart Pearce will take charge of the England team for the friendly against the Netherlands on 29 February, FA chairman David Bernstein confirmed today. Fabio Capello resigned as England manager yesterday following the decision by the FA to strip John Terry of the captaincy because of his pending racism trial in July. Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in October. Harry Redknapp has become the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello in the long term. But Pearce, who served as Capello's assistant, is the England U-21 boss and will take charge of the Great Britain men's Olympic team this summer, will look after senior national team affairs in the short term at least. He had been due to be in charge of the U-21s against Belgium in Middlesbrough on 29 February. Bernstein told a press conference at Wembley: "I can announce that Stuart Pearce will manage the England team against Holland. "He has huge experience outside and inside the organisation. He has been working with the under-21 team and has been working with Fabio for some time. I have got great confidence in Stuart, we will be in good hands. "Our priority then will be to appoint a new England manager." When asked today if the new manager would be English, Bernstein said at a Wembley press conference: "No, he will not definitely be English. Clearly there's a preference for an Englishman. The position hasn't changed. "There's a preference for an English person or a British person but in the end we want the best person. So I'm not prepared to rule out anything at this stage. Clearly an English or British person would have a good start on the matter."