Capello makes Terry permanent England captain
After spending a year out of the job, John Terry has been reinstated as England captain on a permanent basis.
Speculation and conjecture has been rife for a week but was Fabio Capello watching rugby on Saturday night? It's a fair question because, if ever there was evidence needed to support the view that a team requires strong and lasting leadership, it came at the Aviva Stadium.
The way Ireland crushed England's Grand Slam dream in Dublin was reminiscent of the way Germany put the Three Lions to the sword at last summer's World Cup. They were a shadow of the team that had notched up four consecutve victories under skipper Mike Tindall, who missed Saturday's game through injury.
Nick Easter looked lost as England rugby captain, unable to decide whether to focus his energies on playing his usual game or leading the team. In the end, he did nethier. A similar charge has often been made against Steven Gerrard when he has worn the armband for the national football team. Rio Ferdinand could have been a good, modern captain for club and country but his injury record makes him a liability. Terry, like Beckham before him, is able to combine his own game with the responsibilities of captaincy. In fact, he makes the roles compliment each other.
Fanciful a notion though it might be, England's South Africa 2010 campaign might have turned out differently if Terry had still been captain. It's churlish of myself, and others who were pleased to see the Chelsea man stripped of the honour, to say that Capello acted to soon in sacking Terry (anyone who really wants to lay into the Italian might point out that Sir Alex Ferguson acted much more swiftly in relieving Rio of the Manchester United captaincy) but we shouldn't criticise him for this u-turn.
With Euro 2012 less than 18 months away, Capello knows that his team needs continuity. With the possible exceptions of Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole, reinstating Terry was the only option open to him.
England play Wales in a qualifier in Cardiff next Saturday, a match they are [1.54] win. For those who still believe, they can be backed at [9.0] to win Euro 2012 - the same price, incidentally, that you can get on England winning the Rugby World Cup in November.
Published: 20 Mar 2011
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