No Gray Areas - Capello right to trust Terry
It used to be the case that the England cricket captaincy was the subject of much debate in the papers, pubs and amongst commentators and analysts.
The football captaincy was far more straightforward: someone was given the armband by the manager and in the unlikely event that the skipper was out of action, the vice-captain would step in. If that man was then out himself, the manager would select someone else on a one-off basis.
That's how it used to be. We all know why John Terry was stripped of the captaincy last year but I'm not so sure that was the right decision to start with. What happened between him and Wayne Bridge was an off-field matter that had nothing to do with football and I wonder whether Fabio Capello didn't jump the gun.
Maybe he should have waited till after England's next match, seen how the other players and indeed Terry himself reacted to it all and then decided on the best course of action.
All this has only become an issue over the last couple of weeks because the man Capello chose to replace Terry - Rio Ferdinand - has missed so many England matches through injury (including the World Cup) and will also be out of next Saturday's tie against Wales.
The way I see it, there wasn't an obvious candidate, in the absence of Rio and Steven Gerrard, to step in. Okay, Frank Lampard has worn the armband for Chelsea when Terry has been out on occasion and Wayne Rooney would love to be handed the responsibility. But Lampard isn't perhaps the most natural leader and Rooney has plenty on his plate already.
I can see why Rio was the choice. He's a quiet man most of the time but that's not to say he's not quietly offering advice and encouragement to his team-mates and he's certainly highly respected by all his peers.
Terry is different of course; he is a lot more vocal and a far more dominant presence in the changing room. He believes he was born to be captain of a football team and relishes the responsibility.
So I don't see a problem with giving it to JT. What I do have a problem with is how public this whole issue became, with the various protagonists having their say through the media. I know it's a little different but can you imagine different Manchester United players arguing over who should be captain in newspaper columns and interviews? Never in a million years.
The most important thing is that England continue to focus on the basics and that means winning their next match. You can read my preview of the Wales game here early next week.
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Published: 21 Mar 2011
Horace Horlicks (March 23, 2011 4:52 PM) said:
I think England need a complete overhaul and the likes of old codgers like Terry and Ferdinand should be put out to grass(not a football pitch) and be retired from International football. Get the new breed like Wilshire and co in NOW and by 2014 we should have a team that has played tohether for a while that can take on the World. And I don't think we should have any old gits as manager either...Redknapp will be near 70 in 2014. Get a bright young manager like Paul Lambert(Norwich) on board now and maybe we can begin to be taken seriously as force in World football.