Sir Bobby Charlton has called on John Terry to ensure England's Euro 2012 campaign is not derailed by him losing the captaincy again.

World Cup-winning Manchester United legend Charlton backed the Football Association's decision to strip Terry of the armband while the defender awaits trial over allegations he racially abused QPR's Anton Ferdinand, something he denies.

The FA acted after Chelsea and Terry's legal representatives succeeded in delaying the case until after Euro 2012, something which appears to have backfired on the Blues skipper.

Charlton, who helped inspire England to World Cup glory in 1966 and remains his country's record goalscorer, urged Terry to act now to try to resolve any issues that have arisen since the allegations against him first emerged.

"We sometimes laugh at the Football Association but the Football Association govern the rules of the game," said Charlton, speaking in his role as a Laureus World Sports Awards academy member.

"At the end of the day, if John Terry has been found to have potentially made some mistakes and has been pilloried all through the media then they have to act.

"The one person who can solve this is John Terry himself.

"I think that we need to solve it before the championships come, if we can."

Reminded that Terry's trial would not take place until July 9, Charlton said: "That's legally. Physically, amongst themselves, if you have a problem in your team and you are a member of the team then you have an opportunity maybe to influence by speaking to the lad himself personally.

"The only thing I'm feeling is that I hope whatever decision they make doesn't jeopardise the chance we might have of actually winning something for a change."

Charlton refused to be drawn on the best candidate to succeed Terry as England captain, saying: "I don't know them well enough."

The 74-year-old even played down the significance of the captaincy, acknowledging the country's performances appeared unaffected after Bobby Moore was accused of a criminal offence before the 1970 World Cup.

Charlton added: I think if you get the right players and the right blend and they get the right coaching then it doesn't really matter who's captain.

"It was never a big problem for us to actually play with different captain each time."