When the BBC broke the news on Saturday night that John Terry would be re-instated as England captain, following days of speculation that he would be, I felt the right decision had been made by Capello. However, the situation was handled the wrong way by the Italian with Rio Ferdinand having the armband taken away from him and given to his England team mate.
For me, when Terry was stripped of the captaincy, Capello had made the right decision. Aspects about his private life, especially what the media had reported, made his position as captain untenable especially with potential dressing room unrest on the cards. The Italian made his decision in a short meeting with the Chelsea captain and went about appointing Ferdinand as England captain, a decision that, despite a chequered past, was welcomed by fans and the media.
Yet, in the year away from captaining the national team, Ferdinand mustered a total of seven games as captain with a win percentage of 57% compared to Terry's 64% during his original twenty-eight game outing. Since David Beckham's appointment in November 2000, Terry has proven to be England's most successful captain in recent history (unless you include England's win over Denmark last month where Frank Lampard was captain for his one and only game).
Capello's choice is, for me, the natural one. Terry is head and shoulders above the rest of team in terms of leadership ability with Liverpool's Steven Gerrard second in the list. Capello has done what is best for the good of the nation yet the way he handled the situation has completely undermined Ferdinand's position in the team along with the Italian's place as manager.
The rumours were rife days before the news broke which, for me, is a completely unacceptable way for Ferdinand to have found out from former Real Madrid head coach. During Manchester United's midweek Champions League tie against Marseille, Capello, reportedly, ignored Ferdinand whilst Ferdinand has chosen not to meet with the Italian in the aftermath of the whole fiasco.
Personally, I believe the Manchester United centre back has every right to be infuriated with the England head coach. Ferdinand has been disrespected of the highest calibre by Capello. Yes, he may have been injured for a majority of the season yet Capello must have made more of an effort to meet with Rio prior to this announcement.
Capello will be heading for a major dressing room split for this decision I believe. Ferdinand is a popular figure amongst the England players and his attitude towards the United man will not sit well with certain members of the squad. Nonetheless, his decision to re-appoint Terry is the right one. Capello has experimented with others in the role and none have proven an adequate choice as captain with Ferdinand and Gerrard coming closest to replicating the ability of Terry as captain indicating that my original assessment that stripping him of the England captaincy was in fact the wrong choice despite his off-field antics.
Anyway, with that said, I have to go.
Laters,
Macca
For me one of the main issues with Rio is not the sex tapes, the missed drug test or the fact he is a bit of an idiot, but the fact that he was one of the ringleaders of England players going to go "on strike".
ReplyDeleteAs of then, I have literally had less and less interest in the England team, to the point I was unaware we even had internationals coming up.
And as for Terry, well, if he is the "role model" of Capello and the FA, I think football is sealing it's own fate.
I wouldn't say Terry is a role model for English football but the qualities of his captaincy is the best available to Capello as much as it pains me to say. He is the right choice as captain on the field even if he is the worst off it
ReplyDeleteSteven Gerrard I feel is being completly overshadowed here.
ReplyDeleteHe did an exceptional job of taking over wheneve Rio was injured and allowing Terry to be re-instated shows just how weak a 'manager' Capello is.
The sooner Capello is out, the better. £6 million a year? Joke.