Football Food For Thought / Ralph Ellis / 02 February 2010 /

With John Terry now odds-against on Betfair to captain England in their opening match of the World Cup, Ralph Ellis talks us through the chances of the candidates to replace him.

It must be a World Cup year. Just as the first sound of the cuckoo heralds the arrival of spring, so a scandal involving England's football team tells you there's a major tournament on the way.

Back in1996 it was Gazza, the Dentist's Chair, and a broken TV screen on a flight back from Hong Kong that soured the weeks before football was coming home. Two years later Glenn Hoddle appeared smiling with his wife and kids advertising Shredded Wheat, then a week after qualifying for the World Cup in France walked out on them to stay with faith healer Eileen Drewery.

Before Japan in 2002 we discovered Sven Goran Eriksson was stopping off from England scouting missions in his FA car to see Ulrika Jonsson. Then in 2006 Sven was stung by the fake Sheikh - oh, and sandwiched in between those two episodes was Rio Ferdinand's Euro 2004 ban for not bothering to take a drugs test.

Now here we are again, a few months away from going to South Africa, and Fabio Capello has to make a major call on whether to sack John Terry as his captain over stories of an affair with the former partner of Wayne Bridge.

There are those who argue that whatever Terry has, or hasn't, done in his private life should be no concern of anybody else. But on this occasion they are wrong. The issue, from a football perspective, is not about morals but morale. It's about the effect of his behaviour on a team mate and his friends. As one Premier League player told me yesterday: 'There aren't many things a footballer can't get away with, but this is probably one of them.'

Capello, who returns to work in London on Thursday after a few weeks off for a knee operation, has confirmed today that he alone will take any decision. Terry might make things easy for him by resigning, then again he might not. Meanwhile Bridge is said to be considering quitting international football because he can't bear to share a hotel or dressing room with his former Chelsea team mate. (That's good news for Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock who is the obvious candidate to replace him as cover for Ashley Cole and is worth backing to be in the squad at around [2.5]; see if you can get it matched.)

The FA have said Capello will make a football decision, so the bottom line is that Terry will stay in the squad and Bridge won't. Expediency says you don't sacrifice one of your best players, and, providing he performs, the rest of the dressing room will learn to forgive, forget, or at least put any personal stuff to one side. Whether he wears the armband is a different matter. Keeping him in that role will create a sideshow when England's manager wants only to concentrate on matters on the field.

The Chelsea man is [2.34] favourite to be captain when England's campaign kicks off in South Africa against the USA on June 12, and that's one to lay. Steven Gerrard is second favourite at [2.52] while man of the moment Wayne Rooney is [3.4]. If you fancy an outside bet the cool, calm Gareth Barry is pretty much guaranteed to be in the starting line-up and would tick all the other Capello boxes at [23.0].

Five things you might not know about Stephen Warnock

1.Born December 1981 in Ormskirk, he joined Liverpool's Academy and played for England at Under 16 level.

2. He broke both tibula and fibula in his right leg twice between the ages of 15 and 16 - and then the fibula again when he was 17

3.Picked in Liverpool's squad for the 2005 Champions League final, he then got a phone call from one of Rafael Benitez's assistants telling him there had been a mistake and he wasn't on duty after all

4.He moved to Blackburn only after an original swap deal involving Lucas Neill fell through

5.His eight minute appearance in a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago means he shares with Jimmy Barrett of West Ham and Brighton's Peter Ward the record for the shortest England international career

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