Fabio Capello will tomorrow fly back to London to face the biggest decision of his reign as England manager over the future of John Terry, as the Football Association drew up plans to try to avoid a media circus reminiscent of other scandals that have gripped the organisation in recent years.

Terry was said to be distraught over the potential damage to his career in a World Cup year and the effect the affair has had on his family, with his wife, Toni, forced to appeal to the Press Complaints Commission to quell the scrum of photographers that has followed her and their three-year-old twins to Dubai.

Capello will return from Switzerland, where he has been recuperating from knee surgery, at lunchtime tomorrow to meet his right-hand man, Franco Baldini, and make contact with Terry. He is expected to try to meet the Chelsea defender to hear his side of the story in person, most likely after Chelsea train on Friday. Capello is determined to put the matter to bed before Sunday's Euro 2012 draw in Warsaw.

Baldini is understood to have made contact with Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, to gauge Terry's state of mind and to try to arrange a time for Capello to sit down with the defender.

Terry today spoke publicly, via his spokesman, for the first time since news of his alleged affair with the former girlfriend of his England team-mate Wayne Bridge emerged last Friday, to say that he would make no decisions until he had spoken to Capello. "John Terry asked me to make it clear that he has made absolutely no statement about his future as England captain," said his spokesman, the former News of the World editor Phil Hall. "He is keeping his own counsel until he speaks to England manager Fabio Capello and then Mr Capello will decide what ­announcement will be made."

Terry has already made contact with Baldini to explain his position. The FA's chief executive, Ian Watmore, and ­chairman, Lord Triesman, are determined that the decision should be one for Capello alone. The manager will decide on football rather than moral grounds.

His choice will be taken on the basis of the potential impact on the dynamics of the England dressing room. But if Terry is to keep the armband, Capello will want to be convinced that there are no more potentially damaging revelations about the 29-year-old's private life to come, over the weekend or in the months leading up to the World Cup.

Some members of the FA international committee, a less powerful body under the regime of Triesman and Watmore than it used to be, believe that Capello should strip Terry of the captaincy but even they concede it should be a matter for the ­manager alone.

The FA hierarchy will attempt to avoid the kind of media scrum which has habitually camped outside its offices when scandals have arisen by not holding a press conference to announce Capello's decision and attempting to keep secret the location of any meetings involving the manager.

Watmore set a precedent over tabloid allegations late last year, when Terry was accused of accepting £10,000 to give a private tour of Chelsea's training ground, and is determined to hold the line that any decision involving the England team should be one for Capello, Baldini and their staff.

Terry will be given time off by Ancelotti to fly to Dubai to speak to his wife over the weekend of Chelsea's FA Cup tie with Cardiff if he asks for it, and the club have promised to support the player over what they deem a private matter. "If he needs a holiday I will give him a holiday. If he doesn't need a holiday then he will play against Cardiff," Ancelotti said after yesterday's 1-1 draw at Hull City.