Pearce in charge of England for Dutch friendly

London: The FA have confirmed that Stuart Pearce will take charge of the England national team for their friendly against the Netherlands in February.

Pearce currently manages the England under-21 side and will also take charge of the Great Britain team at the 2012 Olympics in London.

FA chairman David Bernstein added that the association will not rush in appointing Fabio Capello's permanent successor as England manager.

"With regard to the future, I'm very pleased to announce that Stuart Pearce will manage the England team for the Holland match," Bernstein told reporters.

"He has huge experience outside and inside this organisation and of course, he manages the England under-21 team and has been working with Fabio for some time. He knows the players very well.

"I've got a great confidence in Stuart, we'll be in safe hands.

"Our priority then will be to appoint a new England manager. This will be handled by the four of us with a total focus on getting the best person in place as soon as we sensibly can."

Bernstein insisted that the departure of Capello would not be allowed to affect England's preparation for this summer's European Championship.

"Of course it's regrettable when a manager leaves like this," Bernstein said. "Could it have been avoided? I don't know. At the end of the meeting, he decided he had to go.

"We're in very good shape, all the organisational matters for the Euros are in place, such as our base and training camp. I think there's plenty of time for a new man to get in place and do what he needs to do.

"We don't want to rush the process. We'll do it properly, we'll do it as soon as we can."
Bernstein stood behind the FA's decision to remove John Terry from the captaincy, a decision over which Capello was not consulted.

"I think in the long term, things should be done in the interests of English football," he said. "I know the importance of success and winning matches.

"The backing of John Terry clearly wasn't helpful. The language has been OK, there was a degree of issue about it.

"When Fabio offered the resignation, it was in the interests of the FA and English football [to accept]. We were very open, we covered a range of issues.

"I think we got it absolutely right, until the court's decision to postpone the matter until after the Euros. Once that changed, it changed the whole dynamic."

FA general secretary Alex Horne added: "There was no point having a manager who didn't want to be in the job. We went through all the issues with Fabio at length, and looking forward, having offered that [resignation] it was right to accept."

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