Ex-Chelsea chief gives his backing to John Terry

John Terry will remain England's leader despite being stripped of the captain's armband.

Terry was Avram Grant's skipper at Chelsea and the Portsmouth boss claims the centre-half will continue to be the standard bearer for the team.

"I think sometimes you don't need the armband to lead a team," said Grant. "He will be a leader because that's what he is. We need to remember that no-one is perfect - even the people who criticise John Terry. He made a mistake, but no-one is perfect."

Grant admits he feels for Terry at seeing him demoted because of his affair with Wayne Bridge's ex-partner and says he is a tremendous captain.

"He's a great, great captain and he did a good job," he said. "Everybody forgets that when I took over Chelsea there were a lot of problems.

"The football wasn't good and the team was down, but he pulled the team together and he was the first one who understood what we needed to do.

"He was a great captain - and the same for England. I feel sorry for him, but this is life sometimes. What can you do?"

Rio Ferdinand has replaced Terry, although the Manchester United defender is publicly refusing to acknowledge his promotion until he hears from either the FA or Fabio Capello, and Michael Carrick claims the players will quickly get over the change in the dressing room.

"As players, once you're out on the pitch, you've all got a job to do and you've all got to lead in some way, so I wouldn't have thought it will affect things too much," said the England midfielder.

Carrick is backing Ferdinand to be a success as Three Lions skipper and said: "Rio is a terrific leader and a terrific captain.

"He's a world-class player and he's done it here for a number of years. He's done it in the Champions League Final, lifted the Champions League, so it certainly won't faze him in that respect.

"He has the respect of the players and that's an important thing so I'm sure he'll be very successful."