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Gerrard the right man to captain England…for now
Just as David Beckham admitted he “half expected” to be left out of Fabio Capello’s first England squad, the appointment of captain was even more predictable.
Naming Steven Gerrard in temporary charge, Capello has started the debate as to whether the Liverpool midfielder or his injured predecessor John Terry should be made permanent captain come September.
In Terry’s absence, Gerrard is clearly the right man for the job. He’s one of only two club captains in the 23-man squad to face Switzerland on Wednesday – the other being Gareth Barry – and as a poll on our soccer site confirmed, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen were outside shouts.
If this is a “new era” (how many new ones have we had now?), then should it have a new lieutenant? Should Terry now take his share of the flack that not even the sturdiest umbrella could shield Steve McClaren from?
Yet it must be remembered that it was Gerrard, and not the injury-troubled Terry, who looked decidedly lost when captaining the side that were humiliated by Croatia in November. On a day when 11 men went missing, he pulled the biggest Lord Lucan of all.
Whoever he chooses, Capello is no doubt aware he has bigger problems to solve. Certainly an international manager needs a good skipper – as World Cup winners Deschamps, Dunga, Moore and Matthaus demonstrate – but he also needs 10 other consistent performers to match.
Padraic Halpin, London
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As you say, an obvious choice for now but I rather suspect Gerrard will keep the job. I believe Gerrard would have had the honour already if Beckham hadn’t been given the armband by caretaker manager Peter Taylor back in 2000. Once you have a captain you need a good reason to change, and if Gerrard has a good game against the Swiss he might have won himself a permanent position.
Im not so sure. I think captaining England is too much of a weight for Gerrard, who in any case never plays as well for country as for club.
Even Terry is shaky for England when he’s a rock at Chelsea.
Ferdinand would have been any interesting choice. He is so laid back I dont think it would have caused him extra pressure and just might have made him concentrate a little more.
Actually do we even need captains in football(it’s not like cricket)? All they do is hand over a pendant and shout a bit. If all the players played like captains England would have qualified for Euro 2008.
I agree with Mark, captains don’t actually do that much but will always be in the game. However, to me Gerrard is a better skipper than Terry. We cannot knock him yet as he is yet to captain the national side and I personally don’t like Terry as a captain, though of course others will think differently. I just do not find him passionate enough. Gerrard however actually looks like he wants to play, most of the time anyway.
I wouldn’t like Ferdinand as a captain either, he is very laid back and with some of his behaviour isn’t exactly the best person to look up to. Owen to me is too quiet and isn’t really ‘Mr. Motivator’.
I hope Stevie keeps the armband, as long as he shows the same passion and commitment to the role as he does at Liverpool.
I think it’s unfair to put the blame entirely on Gerrard for being lost. England on the whole were lost most of the time under Steve McClaren.
That being said, I would say it’ll be a 60/40 chance that the captain’s armband will be handed back to Terry when he recovers.
I’ve always favoured captains playing in central roles i.e. center midfield, center defender, goalkeeper. This way they can have a good view of the field. And while football captains don’t really contribute as much as cricket captains, sometimes they help in keeping the formation tight and correct or shout for teammates to plug holes. This was what I did before albeit in the smallest of stages in school football haha
I’m not convinced by Gerrard’s credentials to be England skipper but agree that there weren’t too many alternatives at this time.
People keep saying that Rio Ferdinand is not suitable to be captain, but his poor behaviour is some time ago now.
I think in time he could make a fine skipper for England.
I think it’s up to Gerrard now to show he’s the man for the job. We’ve all seen that at Liverpool he has that rare gift of being able to inspire his team mates and bring the best out of them (in big games as well). If being captain brings those motivational qualities to the fore, and inspires him to up his own game, it will be of great benefit to England. Worth a try, I’d say.
Whoever is captain, England will still suck!
I think it is a good test to see if Gerrard can do well as England captain.
But i think Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves should be given the chance as both will make excellent England captains.
Gerrard is a good footballer and can be inspirational. The thing that stops me from backing him 100% is his post match interviews. No offence meant to scousers but his accent really grates and he starts most of his responses with the word errrrm (if that is a word). As for Rio I have to say that I have been immpressed with his interviews of late and he too is a good candidate. Lets not forget that our captain needs to be good on, and off the pitch.
For the record, Im a Tottenham supporter. I suppose I really ought to be advocating JJ for captain….lol.
Well Terry himself said that if England failed to qualify for the European Championships this Summer he would take full responsibility and also relinquish his title as Captaincy back to Beckham. It will be interesting to see if JT decides that he should stick to his word – well partly – and hand the duty of guiding England to the World Cup finals to whomever Capello sees fit.
Tim, it doesn’t even matter what they sound like, it’s a sport called football, its not Hollywood.