Emotional Terry picks up pieces

Capello's sudden indecision in the twilight of his managerial career is quite striking

Capello was brought in for his no nonsense attitude. Either u dont strip terry of the armband in the furst place or you stick to your guns and stand by the decision to sack him. Not this. What utter nonsense.

England have become the equivalent of an ugly person with a terrible personality. The conduct of the manager, the antics of some of their most high profile players, the backward football association they represent and now the reinstatement of Terry - there is very little to like about them.

Agreed with Peist2007 above. It's like even the 'disciplinarian' Capello has fallen victim to the star power of the England team, as did Eriksson and McClaren before.

Time to take the pickaxe to the team and start afresh. I'd take a few years of the doldrums if we had a completely rebuilt England team from top to bottom. Players like John Terry have made an England team I used to care so deeply about so unlovable. Start again, invest in youth and promise. The short-term result isn't everything.

I agree with the decision to re-instate decision and believe he shouldn't have been stripped of the captaincy in the first place, but I can't help feel that when he says that nobody has spoken to him about being anti-the reinstatement still smacks of a divisive camp somewhat.

It would be nice to one day read about the players coming out saying they are delighted to have XYZ captaining the side, as opposed to Glen Johnson stating that he "is fine with Terry being captain". Hardly a glowing reference is it?

I just look forward to the day when Terry, Ferdinand, Lampard, Gerrard, Cole and especially Capello etc have all packed it in and we can finally move on from the "golden generation", and to a more positive and friendly England national team.


https://sammyd-putitinthemixer.blogspot.com/2011/03/premier-league-predictions.html

Isn't it worth mentioning the oft-overlooked fact that the media that spread the JT-Wayne Bridge matters had to apologise for it being, well, wrong?

I reckon Gerrard should have held on to the captaincy, but got nothing against Terry coming back wiser.

The thing that nobody ever points out is how Terry has never admitted any wrongdoing at all, or apologised in any way for his actions. The man shouldn't have been let anywhere near the captain's armband ever again.

To tell the truth IMO Terry is the best man for the job. England have no stand out player who is consistent apart from Terry at least the lad gives everything unlike Ferdinand who has past his best by miles. I would rather see Smalling play with Terry and give the lad experience so he can get the experience to be a world class internatonal which he has the potential to do, unlike the likes of cahill, jagielka and shawcross. who are good standard premier league players but are never going to win us a world cup.

getting back to Terry I feel he is the only player who in our overpaid and unconsisent (set of players who dont even know what it means to play for their country) he is the only one of them that actually cares. Every great team has a leader and Terry is the one. I dont even like chelsea and think they are an aging team who has signed a striker for 50mil who will never be the same as 2yrs ago. Terry will has the best chance to lead england to any chance of glory no one else cares, they have no heart, that is the problem with english football, ruled by money and not by the heart. England was made a great nation by the size of its heart and the passion to be the best in every sport, this national team lacks this ability whatever people say.

The issue in all of this is not Terry. It is Capello. Shocking management. This guy managed Milan's 1994 team for chrissakes. One of the top 5 teams of all time.
He has months of inactivity where he can work out man management strategies etc. I'm shocked at how wrong he has got it. I was willing to (just about) give him the benefit of the doubt after the World Cup as it was his first major tournament as coach. But this latest stuff is surreal. Has he been abducted by aliens and replaced by a doppleganger?

england england england, where have the true leaders gone..Capello should have stuck to his decision he now looks weak, we have a divided camp full of overpaid underachievers...
forget 2012 and start afresh with Andy Carroll taking some responsibility, he has the right manager at club level to keep him on an even keel..and forget Terry, fancy pants Cole, Rio is done Lamps..too much of a central clique..and Rooney well maybe him and Carroll form a world class partnership and all is forgiven.

England has always been subject to too much analysis when it really just comes down to putting the ball in the back of the net more often than the other guys

get some chemistry in the room and the rest will follow..

Terry is the obvious captain for England, no doubt. Great player, great leader and Wayne Bridge is nowhere near the first team, so no more problems. As for capello, stuck in the 1990's with 442, can barely speak english, played Heskey at WC while bent had his feet up at home... This guy should have gone a while ago, he's just a brolly away. But no, he will acheieve the remarkable feat of qualifying from an easy group, cue media hype, then come up against a half decent team at a major competiton who has discovered 433, cue media scorn. anything else.... oh yeah, Wilshere to be lauded for every completed pass, tackle, breath... and hailed as the messiah until retirement.

Capello's decisions simply don't add up.

Leaving aside whether he should or should not have lost the captaincy:

How can he move from deserving to lose it to deserving it back when in the meantime he has made matters worse with some pretty open defiance?

If he never meant defiance, his judgement has been poor and communication skills appalling. If he's still the best man for the job after that, the read through for what Capello thinks of Rio, Steve or any other candidate isn't pretty.

Capello is like a four-geared Italian tank - one gear for going forward three for going back.

All the other truly great footballing nations must be laughing their backsides off about this whole captaincy lark. If you were to judge all the England squad on their integrity in terms of morals then you might as well give up now because not one of them is worthy of being put on a pedastal. Even the new young generation like Carroll and Wilshere have had run-ins with the Old Bill, so why do we care so much about it?

Back to the more pressing matters of football, this England team has been stuck in a vicious cycle probably ever since the end of Euro '96 - our last truly creditable performance in a major tournament. Collectively the squads we've had haven't clicked at the right times against the big teams on a consistent level. We proved under Sven that we could thrash the Germans 5-1 and then lose to the mighty Northern Ireland 1-0 in what was one of the worst performances I've ever seen. We even beat Argentina twice under Sven and gave Brazil a decent game at World Cup 2002.

Struggling to beat Montenegro just brought back the nagging doubts from the performances against average teams like USA, Algeria and Slovenia in South Africa. It was encouraging to see us fight back against Denmark in the last friendly as those were the matches that were largely treated with disdain by Sven. The trouble is with England you are always waiting for them to upset the rhythm or capitulate into a bunch of strangers who do not understand each other's game. That very nagging thought is on every English fan's mind regardless of how well we qualify and all will probably be confirmed in Ukraine/Poland. For once can England actually restore some pride to the shirt?

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

"England was made a great nation by the size of its heart and the passion to be the best in every sport"

Was this a joke post?

England have a well deserved reputation for being rubbish at pretty much any sport that matters. Combination of a terrible environment for nurturing athletic ability, poor genetics and no will to win. Can't win at rugby and cricket, fringe sports where your population alone should almost guarantee victory - and poor at football which is the dominant sport.

As some Aussies said about the Olympics - you win a few gold medals mainy in two sports where you sit on your backsides - rowing and cycling. Coincidentally, two second tier sports with no real competition that you sink the GDP of a medium sized country into. Sad.

I don’t understand why England don’t realise that the golden generation are now redundant. The current team are never going to be able to compete with the younger golden generation of Spain. Why don’t they adopt the German approach and go for youth and built for the future, with young quality players that can built for future tournaments. For example:

Hart

Richards Smalling Jones Gibbs

Lennon Huddlestone Wilshere A.Johnson

Rooney Carroll

Average age of 22, with a lot of campaigns ahead of them. Sticking with these players against Spain is totally pointless, they need to try and become the next Spain.

I couldn't care less on who is the England captain. The important issue would be the top four - five - six teams to have a policy of half the playing on the field team to consist of English players so that the national team would have alternatives for selection. All the rest is internal consumption in the name of the press.

As a football fan, when it comes to English football, I find much more interesting to see if my team, Manchester United, acquire more young, English players, capable of performing at the highest level. When it comes to other teams, I keep a note of Liverpool where they also introduce British youth like Kelly, Spearing and others, while they have bought Carroll.

Coming to the national team, no one will mention that:

a) in the last world cup, we saw:
- Spain play beautiful football, winning it the Barcelona way
- Brazil introducing pair of defensive midfielders, while playing attacking football
- Germany impressing with a new, youthful team
- Mexico, Paraguay playing beautiful, attacking football
- Japan feasing with confidence and running teams out of the pitch
There was nothing else to remember - England was in the 'nothing else' area.

b) you have a conversation with people from different countries and when it comes to England, they tell you that it is half a century since they won the world cup and, on that occasion, it was in Wembley and won it with a credited non existent goal that never crossed the line. And you shut up because it's true.

You look at what's new in England and you read about "sources close to Ferdinand" and "sources close to Terry". Your mind, naturally, goes to recent England performances and you see that, besides winning again matches against national teams that should be lesser sides, they produce nothing really in terms of improvement on the way they play the game, worthy to take notice by the rest of the world.

And that's it.

Terry and Ferdinanad are squabbling over leading a national side that has won nothing and will win nothing during their professional careers - basically over leading a bunch of losers!
England should be worrid about getting a bunch of winners toghether. Whoever lead them is of no significance whatsoever.

"England have a well deserved reputation for being rubbish at pretty much any sport that matters. Combination of a terrible environment for nurturing athletic ability, poor genetics and no will to win. Can't win at rugby and cricket, fringe sports where your population alone should almost guarantee victory"

Isn't it my understanding that England won the Ashes in Australia only recently?

Also, haven't England just won the Six Nations Cup in Rugby?

I know the England football team are bad but don't let that reflect on the national team of other sports.

@20 Your probably right but the thing is if Capello had left it alone and carried on with Ferdinand or Gerrard when Rio is injured nobody would have thought twice about it. Going back to Terry is likely to divide the dressing room and make the players question the manager even more. If the players cannot trust the managers desicions its hard to see how they can produce there best football. Players look to the manager for direction, years going around in a circle before deciding Oh i was wrong Terry is the best man for the job is hardly likely to fill the players with confidence that Capello has a plan going forward and can mould a team capable of challenging. If Capello cannot pick a skipper without other players biting there lips then its time for him to go imo, which he has proved with his poor handling of the situation.

Wilshere AND Parker to start?? What do you think the team should be Mr Mcnulty?

A team of stupidly overrated chavvy oiks, led by the biggest of the lot, Fits really.

Not sure those following are much better, Englands new wonder kid midfielder is a mouthy little so and so who as yet has done nothing and the new wonder striker is a prison sentence waiting to happen.

Not watched this rabble since the WC and have no intention of again.

I just want to say that this is the most ridiculous decision ever...Terry was stripped of the captaincy, then he is reinstated, when the guy who replaced him is still active???

When S.A appointed Graham Smith as captain of their cricket team, at 22 in 2003, they indicated that they wanted to start a new era..............look where they are now, England are going backwards.

Terry himself indicated that he is dividing opinion, he would have been better off declining the offer.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

16. At 02:09am on 23rd Mar 2011, kc_chiefs wrote:

England have a well deserved reputation for being rubbish at pretty much any sport that matters. Combination of a terrible environment for nurturing athletic ability, poor genetics and no will to win. Can't win at rugby and cricket, fringe sports where your population alone should almost guarantee victory - and poor at football which is the dominant sport.

..............................................

Eh? I am not saying we are excellent at sport but we have been pretty good recently. Rugby - World Cup winners about 5yrs ago and we only just recently won the 6 Nations, Cricket - Recently won the ashes and we are not totally embarrassing ourselves in the World Cup either, Snooker - consistantly good, Golf - doing well etc etc.

So, I would say that other than our National football team we are doing OK on the World stage in terms of sport.

If I looked to a nation who could be considered as under performers then I would look to the US. They have a 'World Series' in baseball which only they play and they have NFL which is a soft version of rugby.... other than that you have swimming..... yay!

As for the poor genetics bit, where did you get that from? Then again, maybe thats why the Aussies and the Yanks are so poor as they got their genetics from their ENGLISH forefathers......

As for the Aussies and their sitting down comment, have you seen a worse year for Aussie sport? They are having a terrible time at the moment. Also it isn't like they are famous for their scholars or great thinkers is it. What else have they got to do?

I agree about the ''terrible environment for nurturing athletic ability'', however, this needs to change if we hope to become competitive on a world stage, esspecially in football. I say, get the youngsters in and get a decent manager!

dreadful decision by capello - makes him look weak and indecisive.

john terry has no place in the england side, let alone being captain.

"But even those of us who expressed reservations about Terry's reinstatement and the manner in which it was handled by Capello could not fail to be impressed by his performance"

Really? We are judging people on how they have been prep'd for the media now are we? Is that the yard stick? Brilliant. Lets hope we can drill the likes of Terry with the ability to actually play good attacking football in the same manner.

"It will be kept in house. That's not me, upsetting the applecart, the manager and the squad."

Does not sound like him at all.

"It will make me very proud again. Every time you pull on the shirt, and then the armband, it is a very special thing."

So proud that last time he employed a PR company to maximise his potential revenue from securing it off the field. PRIDE indeed...

At least I will only have to wait another year and a half before I can watch England again, my only hope is that Capello does not heap more embarrasment on us.

Fabio is a joke. The way he has acted in this matter is shocking. Minimal man management skills! As for who is captain, as a United supporter I would say I prefer Rio, however, that maybe a little biased. Saying that Terry is nothing but a bully.

I say they should just start again. Cut out all the dead wood and start the process with Fabio as his insistance of playing Heskey, Carrager etc show's he cannot do it.

The FA need to por some money into the youth system and get some passion back!

The hacks have gone berserk this week, pouring over the entrails of the Terry/Capello/Ferdinand non-story, earnestly debating about who said what to whom, who didn't phone whom, who doesn't respect the other, as though we're talking here about the Congress of Vienna.

Actually I suspect that most people couldn't care less about who wears the armband on any given day. The team's rubbish and the captaincy issue just doesn't register.

What we want are some decent players who look like they give a monkey's about playing for their country.

It's curious how, despite all evidence to the contrary, the sports media imbue the captaincy of the national team with some mythical quality, as though leading the team through some vein-throbbing motivational sessions in the dressing room beforehand (i.e. making sure everyone's "up for it"), will somehow compensate for their lack of footballing ablility. I don't see it myself.

The best thing Terry can do on Saturday is play half-reasonably, something he's not done wearing the England shirt for a very long time.

Still, all this nonsense gives sports journos something to write and talk about amongst themselves in the hotel bars during the dog-days leading up to a game.

Pushes his PR people to lobby for the captaincy again and then appears all angst. Superb performance, sign him up for Eastenders once he;s finished the England soap opera.

Poor JT

#15
Apologise? Dont make me laugh. What goes on in his private life should have stayed private.

--------------------------------

Simple answer then if you want to be 'Dad of the Year' and continually court press publicity and make money off it, don't be stupid enough to believe you control what they write about you and you are in charge. Duh!

You know what, I'm sick of England FC. I'm sick of the same old teams that never achieve anything, the same old rows, the same old formations and the same old 'mediocrity is excellence' talk from cronies like McNulty and the national press.

I hope Wales win on Saturday. I hope they do. I'm English and going to cheer on the opposition.

Why?

Because no matter how well a player plays in a friendly, they'll never get their chance ahead of one of the 'big names' who care only for their sponsorship deals and bank balances which means defeat means nothing to them.

Bent and Young's performance in the 2nd half against Denmark should give them a chance together in an important game for England. They won't though. As we've got the formless Rooney to play and moan his way through the game (though if we lose, I'm sure his mind will be 'quickly' onto other things and Carroll, who now is automatically a starter as he now plays for Liverpool.

That's why I hate the England national team.

I have more time for Gareth Bale than I do for any of the 'Golden Generation'. He'll, I have more time for Craig Bellamy. At least he seems like he cares if they lose.

Come on Wales.

For all intents and purposes, the captain's job is to give on and off the field motivation. Currently, both Terry and Rio do that, but Rio's injuries have ruled him off, more often than not. However, why Capellp should stick with these two - beats reason, and has failled before. Maybe he should think outside the box on this one. Or make it competitive and open for those who can.
Sentiments aside, it is high time he got the perfomance from his players, and right now, frankly, he should be doing that and not trying to divert attention by reinstatatin JT.

At a stroke, Capello has stripped the England captaincy of any pride or importance.

He said himself '1 years punishment is enough' - that statement alone beggars belief. Did he reduce his pocket-money too ? Or stop his sweets, perhaps ?

The England captaincy is not some bloody common-or-garden position to use as retribution for incumbents' misdemeanors - it is the highest, most privileged of positions an active footballer can achieve; the pinnacle of one's career.

Or it was.

That John Terry was not the right choice initially is open to question - his on-field haranguing of officials should have been sufficient to omit him from the outset, notwithstanding that he is not even the best defender and therefore not guaranteed to start. However, to remove him, which was correct, and then re-instate him, which was not correct, merely illustrates how Capello views the significance of the position ie, it is not significant.

When you think of the past greats that have led England, what must they feel - I would wager what they say publicly and what they feel within differs markedly.

Go home, Mr Capello, and quickly, back to your land of opera - you have degraded arguably our most prestigious sporting honour to pantomime status.

The next World Cup is in Brazil and the one after that is in Quatar.
This generation of players including the young ones have NO chance of winning a
world cup. We should forget that as an aim and start to develop an administrative
structure and team that gives us a chance in 2022.

The thing is with being Captain of a Football (or Rugby) team, it's not like the Captain in Cricket. The skipper in Cricket is involved in selection and responsible for on field tactics (bowling/field placements/batting order etc), where the Captain in Football is the bloke who shouts the loudest at his team mates, and the one who gets to shout at the ref the most as well. At this level of Football, there should be 6-7 leaders all over the pitch, so who is Captain is a non issue, it's purely ceremonial.

I am in full agreement that the 'Golden Generation' should be ejected, and replaced with players untainted by the ongoing failure this 'team' has been plagued by in the last few decades. It seemed to pay dividends for Germany, who haven't even had that long since their last tournament win.

Sadly, until the bubble bursts financially, and I hope that is soon, we will be stuck with people who were only good at sport at school.... earning millions per year. I have nothing against these guys making hay during a relatively short time at the top, but the current rates are so over the top it's killing clubs who try to stay competitive on wages to stay in the hunt for silverware.

This whole soap opera brings only discredit to the Manager and Captain. England now resembles little more than a badly run circus.
Sir Alf and Sir Bobby must be turning in their graves

27. At 08:07am on 23rd Mar 2011, United_in_Dubai wrote:
...
If I looked to a nation who could be considered as under performers then I would look to the US. They have a 'World Series' in baseball which only they play and they have NFL which is a soft version of rugby.... other than that you have swimming..... yay!
...

It's funny being so short sited. As much as I don't like promoting the USA in sports, they have a whole structure for sports based on which they produce talent in all sport, year after year. They excel in every sport apart from football. There is a sport that is the second most popular sport in the world - basketball. In that, they are the masters by a distance.

The thing is that in England, the press promotes only football, rugby and cricket. Rugby and cricket have a narrow following in the so called "home nations", some countries that belong to the ex English empire and one two extra additions.

The only other sport talked about heavily is tennis, because of Wimbledon and is talked more whenever a British player is near the top of rankings.

The fact is that English press turns blind, silent in many sports that are popular around the world.

drthorne, are you forgetting the one in Russia in between those two?

Once again, we are entitled to Phil's opinion, which in this case displays the predisposition of the English football press preoccupation with sideshows. Who cares about the captain of a team that wins nothing, even after a phenomenal (bogus?) build-up by a hero worshiping press? It is no good beating the Andoras, San Marinos, etc. and yet fail to beat Algeria on the world stage. It is not like Team England is a winning team, I do not think that whoever is England Captain is held in any esteem by other 'BIG' national team captains. So toss the arm band around and for God's own sake play to win the Big matches (against Spain, Germany, Italy, Holland etc.)

I really hope Wales beat England on Saturday

The only word I can think of describe the decision to reinstate Terry captain is 'joke'. Did we not learn anything from the World Cup? Surely, now is the time to totally overhaul the way the team has been run in the past and move forward. Capello should not be in the job after the debacle last summer and if it was up to me Terry, Lampard, and plenty of others would never play for England again. Terry's behaviour before and at the world cup was a disgrace and how he can be placed in a position of so-called authority, commanding the respect of his fellow professionals is beyond me. He's not the only one - Gerrard would be doing time if it wasn't for his mates taking the rap for him in a bar fight, Ferdinand has a list of misdemeanors as long as Terry's, Ashley Cole - where do I start. We should have dumped these golden generation losers after the world cup and gone totally with youth. If we don't qualify for Euro 2008 - fine. In time the squad will develop and get better - it won't if these 'senior' failures are continually picked. My team for Wales - Hart, Baines, Cahill, Jagielka, Lescott, A Young, Lennon, Barry, Wilshere, Rooney, Carroll. Won't happen but still looks a good team to me minus the 'senior professionals'.

I agree with post number 17 saying we should just start with a young team now and build it up from there. There is simply nothing to be gained by having the likes of Terry, Gerrard, Lampard and Ferdinand in the squad anymore...we know they won't be able to win a championship.

I would however take Lennon and Huddlestone out of that team. Not because they're not good enough, but because I don't want Spurs players anywhere near the England team. International football is now largely irrelevant and I don't want Spurs players risked playing in what effectively amount to in-season friendlies (even the competitive games).

As far as I can assess Capello continues to prove he is inept at all levels as England manager.

He can barely speak English, he seems to have no bond with the players and I still don't think he knows his best England team or formation.

Tactically he proved himself utterly incompetent during the world cup, not only in putting out an ineffective team, but a team that clearly did not know how to play together or had any ability or confidence in their own individual roles.

Worse still during the world cup (and in most games since then), when the England team have played poorly, his inability to change tactics, formations or make substitutions that have made any significant difference has been alarming. I truly believe that if the England players were left to organise themselves for each game without Capello's input, their performances would be no worse or any less bland.

On top of this we now have the England captain debacle. How difficult is it to make a decision, privately inform the few parties involved, then communicate to the press and general public. I am sure my grandma can do this and she is in her 80's, yet Capello can make a total pigs ear of it yet again.

Has Capello given us value for money, has he even given us the belief that he is even trying to the best of his ability, has he even given us the belief that he even cares. If I was asked this my answer would be a resounding 'NO!' to all of these questions.

Oh how I miss Sven, even bring back Glen Hoddle.

Please FA do us all a favour and put 'Arry' in place. He will install the necessary confidence into the players (& a formation and tactics they understand), so they at least can play to their maximum ability which is all we can ask for.

We will then not have to endure anymore sterile, bland utter rubbish that we have currently under Capello. Value for money, we have had FA!

We have the FA who don't seem to know what they are doing, a manager that does not seem to know what he is doing and now we have a really poor defender back as England captain. Nice to see things going forward in the England camp.

Anybody who thinks this is purely a foorball decision made purely by Capello is very gullible.

40. At 08:53am on 23rd Mar 2011, Football_UK wrote:
27. At 08:07am on 23rd Mar 2011, United_in_Dubai wrote:
...
If I looked to a nation who could be considered as under performers then I would look to the US. They have a 'World Series' in baseball which only they play and they have NFL which is a soft version of rugby.... other than that you have swimming..... yay!
...

It's funny being so short sited. As much as I don't like promoting the USA in sports, they have a whole structure for sports based on which they produce talent in all sport, year after year. They excel in every sport apart from football. There is a sport that is the second most popular sport in the world - basketball. In that, they are the masters by a distance.

........................................

Ok, I forgot basketball, however, I wouldn't call that particularly short 'sighted'. Also, didn't Russia and China recently beat them? Also, other than the previously mentioned countries and the Philippines very few countries take Basketball seriously.

You have to remember that they have a population of over 300 million. We have 60 Million, so about 1/5.

You also have to look at their University scholarship system where you end up with pretty below average individuals intellectually being allowed entry into University to gain pretty much full time coaching just because they can kick a ball. I'm not saying nurturing is a bad thing so much, just that it is a major plus and how when you look at the likes of medals per population they lose by a mile. In Beijing 2008 they got twice as many medals but have 5 times the population....

Then look at the winter Olympics in 2010, we managed 5 medals up from 1 in the previous games and they managed 32 medals for 300 million population to our 5 for 60 million, not that much difference when you look at the fact they have over 55 ski resorts to our…… none!

At the end of the day, while Terry was captain during our world cup qualifying everyone called us world beaters, he loses the captaincy and we have a terrible world cup. Maybe Capello has noticed this as well!

I am gonna be honest and say that international football bores me. Far too many meaningless friendlys. The glitz and glammour of the champions league outstrips the boring international game
A good club side will beat most top international teams.
I would rather my club win the carling cup, than England win the Euros or World Cup.

Another pointless article around the same issues which are old news within the England Camp.

Fabio is a good manager, no doubt about it, based on past achievements, but this is a shames and no wonder the English Football Team are performing the way they are. John Terry reinstated as captain full time?? Could understand for the time being, as ferdy is out injured, but full time? But ahh well, just shrug your shoulders and smile. To be honest, I agree with a earlier post, These are human beings and do deserve a private life, and everything they do in their own time should be kept private. All because they play football (albeit all of them overly paid) they (personally) they shouldn't be susceptible of this "Role Model" conundrum the media idiots and abnormal minded people suggest they should be.. People make mistakes, these are not programmed Robots. (even if he did have a fling with Bridges Ex, what has he done wrong apart from hurt Bridges Pride??, an Ex is a Ex, past, gone, finished. He has every right to do what he feels is right or wrong or not.)

Anyways, to a more interesting debate, the England Team need a manager who challenges new tactics and establishes a new young team focused on form rather than reputation, but wait, wasn't that Fabio's idea?

The England team is going to be the same vs. Wales just without Heskey and the Injured World Cup Flops. (Gerrard etc), Being brought up in the heart of Mid-Wales, I really hope Wales do cause an upset and demolish this pitiful England Selection..

I just hope there will be some surprise selections coming through which are included in the starting team (Parker, Jarvis, etc) instead of the ever aging Barry, Lamptard, Carrick etc...

Peace out, a Town!

The whole thing is a complete mess. Terry being made captain again is a disgrace purely because it will exasperate divisions that already exist in the England dressing room.

Is Capello making all these stupid decisions on purpose so he can get himself sacked or am I a little too cynical.It seems to me since the world cup he doesn't care how the team performs. He seems to be "going through the motions" without a real desire to win.

England will probably win on Saturday by playing pretty rubbish and then get a headed goal from a corner scored by Terry. This will of course vindicate everything.

We as a nation have to accept that this group of players are not a good team though as individuals they are certainly talented. In any walk of life, to make a team out of individuals, you need good leadership and the strength to make difficult decisions by getting rid of non-team players even if those people are high performers. I see neither of these qualities in any part of the England set up.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

50. At 09:43am on 23rd Mar 2011, tazerbager wrote:
At the end of the day, while Terry was captain during our world cup qualifying everyone called us world beaters, he loses the captaincy and we have a terrible world cup. Maybe Capello has noticed this as well!

____________________________________________________________________


Would the captain's armband suddenly have meant he gained the pace to keep up with four German counter-attacks?

I doubt it.

The whole team were awful that day, but Terry and Barry ensured it was a rout.

#55 kanchelskis_legend

Capello was the biggest culprit there. Both on the day and the way he had managed the team in the group games.

MrBlueBurns

At the risk of sounding too bitter, I'd say the biggest culprit on the day was a certain linesman. Who knows what would've happened if we'd gone in 2-2 at the break?

@57.

My guess would of been 4-2 Germany.

Kanchelskis - the ref didnt give the goal but we were awful apart from those two and a crossbar hit in the second half. I'd hate to see what a riled up Germany would have done to us in the 2nd half.

We had no place being near the World Cup.

I'm a Man Utd fan and cannot understand what Gerrard has to do to keep the armband. You could argue that his England performances do not match the levels for his club, but is that because he is not the central figure with England?

Ferdinand has been treated incredibly poorly, but I doubt he will ever play regularly for England again due to injury. Terry, although a strong personality, is widely disliked within the camp (if you believe numerous reports) for Capello to compromise himself ("he will never be captain again in my team") to appoint someone few people like or respect beggars belief.

Too much money, too much power, too few brain cells between the lot of them.

England won't win Euro 2012, so why not get rid of the lot of them now and rebuild with a view on WC 2014? CC-Chase picked a pretty good team for 3 years time:

Hart

Richards Smalling Jones Gibbs

Lennon Huddlestone Wilshere A.Johnson

Rooney Carroll

#57 kanchelskis_legend

Indeed!

But the linesman is not employed by the FA, so is perhaps beyond the current remit.

I'm not going to go all over the top as some do and say that Capello is rubbish, should go etc etc. I will look at what I thought went wrong in the group games and the Germany game that those employed by the FA are responsible for.

- Playing Rooney when he did not appear to be either fit or in form.
- Playing Gerrard on the left but seemingly letting him wander wherever he wanted. This then negated the influence of Ashley Cole on the/any game.
- Allowing pretty much all England's players go up for set pieces in the second half against Germany thus leaving massive holes which the Germans exploited in clinical fashion.

I'm less interested in the captaincy as I don't think that won or lost us it last summer (unless Capello was indulging Gerrard which is a possibility).

I'm more interested in the mistakes on the pitch being rectified and a decent balance to the tea,.

Much of the captaincy talk is a media sideshow which very little good can come from.

I really don't get what all the fuss is about, I mean really.
I was watching Sky Sports News the other day, and immediately following the Chelsea win over Man City there was a quite odd angle to it all; "John Terry comes through unscathed", "clean sheet for England captain John Terry", "Terry drives Chelsea towards deserved win"...I just found the whole thing utterly baffling.

I find the whole thing quite juvenile, especially our attitude towards 'captains', like it's some sort of crown that gives the user super-powers and puts them on a par with Zeus and co.
The rest of Europe must be scratching their heads and wondering if they've missed something here, because the last time they checked, the captain's job was to wear a bit of velcro ribbon on their arm, toss a coin, and walk out of the tunnel first.

AJ_WFC

I know we were awful. But football is compelling because inferior teams can win. Especially when they're not denied perfectly good goals.

Greece had no place winning the Euros in 2004, but they managed it?

Just because injustice has helped some kind of 'natural order' prevail, doesn't render it insignificant.

#60 enricosuarve

Ferdinand has been treated incredibly poorly, but I doubt he will ever play regularly for England again due to injury. Terry, although a strong personality, is widely disliked within the camp (if you believe numerous reports) for Capello to compromise himself
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't think Capello has compromised himself, I think he has merely changed his mind. Why there has to be such 'spin' on it I really don't understand.

Do people like or dislike Terry? People should either put up or shut up. Whispers and innuendo from players or through journalistic friends would appear to do no good whatsoever. Capello has made his decision and that is that.

The John Terry subject is clearly a Marmite one, you either love him or hate him.

Those that hate him: yes his charge sheet is long and for what England expects of it's captain I can see why he is not your choice. Objectively speaking I would suggest that him being sacked on the basis of his alleged affair with an ex-team mates ex-girlfriend is steep. If it was a criminal charge, missing a drugs test and/ or performance/ disciplinary issue pertaining to England then perhaps so. Perhaps your opinion of the man is based on sensationalised stories from the media, as I'm guessing a large percentage of us do not know the man. Up until the Wayne Bridge saga broke yes England were not pulling up any trees but his performances, England win percentage compared to other captains and respect he had from his team-mates merited him having the armband.

To those that love him: Again objectively speaking, regardless of whether he should or should not now be captain we have to appreciate that JT being captain will be divisive. Not so much within the squad as they should all be professional, but more so from the media and fans. As pointed out, if England aren't performing after a period of their home games the crowd will turn. If England draw or lose, the media will point to this JT captaining debacle. I'm assuming you're all England fans and want the best for England, so would it not have been best to keep the harmony and either stick with Rio or give it to Gerrard?

As I've stressed I'm being objective and
really just playing devils advocate. Well as objective as a Chelsea fan can be! I have always been impressed with JT the player and Chelsea captain in terms of how he is at our club, with the youngsters, new team-mates and fans. However, I can see how the non-football related JT stories and his own actions has tarnished his reputation.

JT hopefully has learnt when he should speak up and talk and when he shouldn't. He should have made a public comment one way or other when the Bridge story came out. It is his private business but unfortunately he was England captain and once the story is in the public domain he needed to comment. He should have shut up when he made his ill-advised press conf in South Africa. He says he is wiser now so let's see.

Greeces performances and victories in the big games made them worthy winners of Euro 2004. Our performances at the World Cup, including the Germany game ranged from terrible to reprehensible.

Blame a ref for our defeat all you want, I'll blame the awful group performances, the in-fighting between our beloved players and conceding 4 perfectly good goals to the Germans.

Hypothetical situations are the root of the problems with the England team as a whole.

'England could win the World Cup/Euros!'

Yeah right.

What is it about the English and captaincy?How is Terry the main point of discussion here?The one to be discussing(if any) is Fabio Capello and not John.Rio has contacted him to wish him well and I suggest we all do the same.
The FA,we all know, is a failing system!!

I have no problem with who Terry has sex with, he can do it with Capello and i don't care. However that was never the problem, in my view. The problem was that Terry used his position as England captain to try to get the courts to block the papers from publishing what he was doing. He misused the position for his own selfish personel ends, something that shows the utter contemt that he really feels for the position and shows the values that he holds.
He should therefore not only have no longer been captain but should not be playing for the team.
However even this is not the real issue now. I don't believe on performance either for their teams or especially for england, none of Terry, Johnson, Lampard, Gerrard or Rooney should be anywhere near the England team.

66. At 10:26am on 23rd Mar 2011, AJ_WFC wrote:

'England could win the World Cup/Euros!'

Yeah right.

_________________________________________________________________


Sorry to keep using this as an example, but in 2004, if I'd told you 'Greece could win the Euros', you'd have responded in exactly the same way.

Again, I'm not defending England's performances or current state. My point is that you don't need to be the best team in the world to win a major trophy like this, so people who scorn the notion that we ever could, are doing so out of schadenfreude, rather than rationality.

#66 AJ_WFC

Time may have played in part in our opinion of Greece at Euro 2004, but my recollection is that of a very unadventurous team that defended resolutely and nicked goals from set pieces and kept it's tactical shape in a very disciplined way. A means to an end and job done.

I don't recall them playing 'better' than England have in recent years, but they were certainly more successful.

p.s. you say England conceded '4 perfectly good goals'. I don't want to come across as a pedant, but I don't quite see how you concede 'good goals' at the same time as being as awful as you describe. Wouldn't that make them 'bad goals'?

MrBlueBurns

I think he means perfectly legal.

Forgetting (as indeed all of us have, given that it was barely mentioned by the end of the game), that their first goal was in fact offside.

Capello has seen sense.

Funny how Sir Alex wasn't criticised at all for stripping Ferdinand of United's captaincy and giving it to Vidic, but Capello is an awful man for doing it. Ferdinand can't play enough games to justify a captaincy. Yeah he might not have told him in the right way if the papers are to be believed, but they're big boys.

I have no faith in Don Fabio, when appointed I thought he was the man to get the best out of England but he seems to have the lost the plot.
Terry is a decent player and captain but Fabio handled it terribly, why even appoint a permanent captain at this stage? Madness.
Also, I agree with most on here that we need to look to the future and stop making the same mistakes. The younger players need the chance and then the backing, just look at how Wilshere has responded.
Lets forget being the new Spain for now, that will takes years of coaching and developmental changes but the FA should look at the teams that over-achieve such as Uruguay for pointers, instead of the comfortable fact-finding holidays they like.
I predict that America will win the WC before we do, that says it all really.
SJ
https://scottssportsandsocial.blogspot.com/

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"38. At 08:50am on 23rd Mar 2011, HMMurdoch wrote:
The thing is with being Captain of a Football (or Rugby) team, it's not like the Captain in Cricket. The skipper in Cricket is involved in selection and responsible for on field tactics (bowling/field placements/batting order etc), where the Captain in Football is the bloke who shouts the loudest at his team mates, and the one who gets to shout at the ref the most as well. At this level of Football, there should be 6-7 leaders all over the pitch, so who is Captain is a non issue, it's purely ceremonial."

I agree at this level the more experienced palyers should all carry the responsibility of leadership. However, this is football where the maturity and leadership capabilities of many players makes them unsuitable for captaincy

As for Terry, he lacks the personal attributes to lead - a man that sits on the pitch and cries because he lost the champions leagure final instead of looking after his team betrays himself as soneone who puts his owne self-interest first

As for the process, well it makes good copy and keeps journalists in a job but shows how out of touch Capello is.

In summary - the same old circus that surrounds Enhlish football

"According to Spencer, Wilshere then attempted to spit through an open window but missed, hitting the window instead. "

Yep, sounds like Wilshere.

bahahaha.

#72 Dedwood85

Yeah he might not have told him in the right way if the papers are to be believed, but they're big boys.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Certainly they are big boys and should act professionally.

In terms of believing the papers though, I understand that Capello had a lunch with journalists and told them of his intentions. Sure enough, naturally, the journalists ran the story. Thing is, they ran the story in a negative way because Capello's decision was contrary to want the journalists had wanted when they wouldn't let up about the Terry allegations last year?

Did they promise that they would keep schtum until Capello had spoken to Ferdinand? Did Capello take too long to speak to Ferdinand (though I also gather than Capello tried to see Ferdinand and Ferdinand didn't play ball).

Why does he need to have lunch with journalists? Why does any club need to arrange a lunch for journalists (as they seem to)? Is it a PR thing? If it is, does that suggest that journalists can be easily swayed? Can journalists be trusted to be told something off the record? Why the need to tell them anything off the record?

I just don't get the sequence of events here. In my mind, there seems to be a real disconnect somewhere between what Capello wanted to do and how the press have presented the story and I think the presentation of the story is in line with their agenda and overall, does not help the England team.

Why isnt carrick being considered for captain? Always 50 % commited, nearly able to speak english fluently, makes imaginative passes to the defenders and to his fellow centre mid and as captain would be guaranteed a place in the starting 11. Wheres the issue?

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Wait, Greece won the Euros by playing unadventurous football? We played the same way just without the decent defending and only made the second round. How Greece won us irrelevant, the fact that they did and their players CARED is what matters to me.

As for the Germany game, i don't recall the offside for the first goal. I'll rematch the highlights later but I bet it was marginal. The sort of marginal that we would shrug our shoulders if it was the other way round.

I believe that the players were for the most part completely uninterested in being at the World Cup. The manager couldn't control them and contributed by isolating them from the world/shops/ATMs.

That's why they shouldnt have been anywhere near the world cup and why the performances were littered with lethargy, tempers and abuse of the supporters.

Nothings changed. At all. Why should I want them to win again? Because they represent me?

As I said earlier, come on Wales.

What a shame for Ferdinand -- he's done nothing wrong and yet he get's treated like this.

If anyone should have gotten the captaincy - it should have been Gerrard.

Yet again another weak England manager doing a u-turn.

No-one's perfect - I agree - but Terry should be kept away from the England Captaincy - he's not worthy or fit to do it.

While Capello's record as a club manager is one of the bests in the world, as a national team manager he seems a bit lost and even clueless in his manner of doing things. I guess the English national team has become such a hopeless circus even someone like Capello is losing his bearings.

Reinstating Terry as captain is a sign of either mental weakness or extreme internal pressure (from the authorities). It makes absolutely no sense to strip the captaincy from someone just to give it back a year after, what are vice-captains here for ? Ferdinand is quite a nice individual, he has legitimate reasons to retire just to avoid being involved in the current circus that the English national team is.

The FA still hasn't learnt the lessons from the Germany game it would seem, promoting football rather than the "kick-and-rush" or "getting stuck in" culture among the young players, and giving playing opportunities to youth in order to build a platform on which to aim for international tournaments. Germany have done it splendidly, Spain obviously applied the recipe to (finally) achieve success, France seem to be going down this road although the recalls of Ribéry and Evra shouldn't have happened.

Given the current state of the English team, and the current players, I wouldn't be that surprised if Wales beat them, easily.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

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72. At 10:40am on 23rd Mar 2011, Dedwood85 wrote:
Capello has seen sense.

Funny how Sir Alex wasn't criticised at all for stripping Ferdinand of United's captaincy and giving it to Vidic, but Capello is an awful man for doing it. Ferdinand can't play enough games to justify a captaincy. Yeah he might not have told him in the right way if the papers are to be believed, but they're big boys.

---------------

That's not how it happened, though. Before this season, and indeed during this season, the club captain was Gary Neville. Ferguson realised that Neville wasn't going to be on the pitch all that much, and for the past two seasons or so, the role of captain on the pitch has been moved around between senior players from Ferdinand, Vidic, Giggs, Evra, even Rooney sometimes. This season it became obvious that a set captain would be needed with Neville well off the pace - Ferguson chose Vidic. No replacement of Ferdinand or anyone else was implied. Vidic was simply to be Ferguson's leader on the pitch in the absence of Neville.

But the England situation is completely different - Capello stripped Terry of the captaincy because he believed his actions meant he no longer had the moral authority for the role, and gave it to Ferdinand. In that time, Ferdinand has done nothing wrong, and finds himself suddenly replaced by the very man who only a year ago was no longer an acceptable choice for the role.

I don't actually intend to sound like I'm defending Ferdinand. I'm just outlining the difference between the Man Utd and England captaincy situations and why one is not relevant with regard to the other. I actually think John Terry, for all his shortcomings, does appear to have something of a leader about him on the pitch. What bothers me is how Capello has undergone a complete character transformation. He is one of the most feared, and successful, coaches in football - a man respected and even feared for his ruthlessness and certainty. But since becoming England coach, he's shown an alarming tendency toward flipflopping and indecisiveness. The FA plumped for Capello precisely because of his authoritarian nature (obviously coupled with his track record). Where has this gone? Whether or not he was right to drop Terry, why can't he stick to his decision, have Terry respect it, and give, say, Steven Gerrard the permanent captaincy if Ferdinand's fitness is going to be a problem? Why must he buckle like this?

In short, will the real Fabio Capello please, for crying out loud, stand up?!

#85 2013

That's a well reasoned comment but I think there are a couple of things wrong.

Firstly, did Capello take the captaincy away from Terry on the grounds of moral authority? If my recollection is correct, Capello left it quite some time between the media furore and taking action against Terry. The press wouldn't leave it alone and respect that Capello seemingly didn't want to take any action.

Eventually, Capello did take action but the wonder is did he do it of his own volition or because of the fuss at that time?

Now, perhaps Capello is aware that the press will have their say again, but that he now doesn't care. If he's 'lost' the press anyway, what harm can it do?

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#86 - MrBlueBurns

Fair point. But whether or not press influence caused Capello to strip Terry of the captaincy, a lack of moral authority around his England team mates was the reason given. The pretext, if you like. I'm just pointing out that to then go back on it and replace a captain who hasn't done anything wrong with someone who, apparently, did, is another item on a growing list of Capello wobbles.

And if it really was the press who influenced Capello's original decision, I just wonder who on Earth this guy is managing England because it's not the Capello I was led to believe they were getting.

87. At 11:16am on 23rd Mar 2011, Mr C wrote:
Capello really doesnt care what anyone thinks of his actions.

Remember him famously dropping Beckham from the Madrid squad and then recalling him some months later.

----

To be fair, though, Capello dropped Beckham because he was uncomfortable with his status. Beckham won his place back fair and square by impressing Capello with his attitude and hard work, then backing it up on the pitch. That's not quite the same kind of situation.

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#90 Mr C

Good luck with that one!

People can really seem to decide what argument they want to make, who is at fault, what the facts are and what a captain is for, so as far as them properly answering your point....

Numerous ex players say it so it must be true. He's dripping with international and European honours isn't he?

Mediocrity is excellence. John Terry is a great example of this.

He's paid a lot so must be good.

At the end of the day, this generally will all boil down to a weak FA, who have no real power over the top tier of English football.

The biggest mistake the FA ever made was not appointing Brian Clough as England manager in the 70s/80's.

He would have made the changes in the whole structure of English football, and would have taken on the FA (and won) to make those changes. This is why he was never given the job.

I know I'm off on a tangent here, but that sort of appointment would have changed the face of our game for the better.

Mr C

While I don't agree that Terry should be captain, and think Capello has handled this appallingly, you raise a good point about a lack of real alternatives.

If Rio COULD stay fit, he would be the perfect Cpt in my opinion, but Capello's obviously decided that he's had his day as a regular starter. That will be pretty embarrassing if Rio does get over his injury problems and has another two or three years in him.

I have to say, for all my dislike of Gerrard, he's also up there as an option, but as he and Frank get older, and their guaranteed starting position comes under threat, it seems unviable to have either of them as captain.

Of course there is one player of considerable quality (on his day), who does seem to be a guaranteed starter (rightly or wrongly), who's reached the age where he can shoulder the burden of captaining a side, and who I personally think would be galvanised by taking the armband. But if I dared to breathe his name in the same sentence as 'England captain' I think every Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City (and Everton) fan would probably hunt me down and kill me. So I won't.

90. At 11:31am on 23rd Mar 2011, Mr C wrote:
87. At 11:16am on 23rd Mar 2011, Mr C wrote:
Capello really doesnt care what anyone thinks of his actions.

Remember him famously dropping Beckham from the Madrid squad and then recalling him some months later.

----

To be fair, though, Capello dropped Beckham because he was uncomfortable with his status. Beckham won his place back fair and square by impressing Capello with his attitude and hard work, then backing it up on the pitch. That's not quite the same kind of situation.
------------------------------------------------------
Ok. Tell me, Who you think are the alternatives to Terry? Lets not make silly suggestions now. Lets be realistic. Who are the alternatives to Terry? Who is English and has all Terry's on the pitch qualities at the moment?

Lets forget what has done off the pitch. Strictly on the pitch, Who is a leader like him and he is a leader because numerous ex players have said he is, So who is a leader like him and a good defender like him? I wont say he's a great defender because I'l get dogs abuse then.

----------

I did say that I think Terry is a leader on the pitch. He was my choice when he got it and I wasn't sure he should have been stripped in the first place. My problem is with Capello's new found proneness to backtracking and indecisiveness. Ferdinand was just as injury-prone when he got the role as he is now, so why give it to him in the first place? I am not disputing Terry's suitability to be England captain. I'm disputing Capello's approach.

And for what it's worth, I'm neither a Chelsea fan nor a Manchester Utd fan, but I would take a centre-back pairing of Terry and a fit Ferdinand any day of the week.

Though I wasn't happy that John Terry was stripped of the captaincy due to allegations in his private life which have got nothing to do with football as far as I'm concerned, I don't think he's the right man for the job, because basically he can't keep his mouth shut.

Even now he's criticising Capello for sacking him even after he's reinstated him!

So much for "hard man", "disciplinarian" Capello, who's letting himself be made a fool of therefore by his own captain.

You can't have the captain challenging the manager's authority like this and have a proper ethos in the team.

Terry behaves more like a yob football fan than a multi-million pound salaried international, though for now I'd still keep him in the team, because sadly the way football is, with referees not necessarily clamping down on dirty play, you need a "hard man" in every team to stop the less physical players getting intimidated and pushed around.

But not only that, Capello is chopping and changing the team again, still experimenting it appears, when by now he ought to know who the best players in England are and have a stable team that's used to playing together.

Particularly irritating is the omission of Adam Johnson from the squad. OK, Johnson is only just back for City, but apparently when Capello was trying to hold onto his job and talk the FA into thinking England had a future after the World Cup disaster, he cited the named "Adam Johnson" as key to the future.

So where is he? - he's not even in the squad!

If he could play the last 10 mins against Chelsea last Sunday he could have played the last 20 mins against Wales this Saturday.

And don't say he didn't perform, because he caused at least one dangerous situation against Chelsea with a chipped cross into the box which could easily have led to a Man City goal, and also cleverly forced a corner which on a thin day for Man City' attack was also one of their best chances.

Because this Wales away game is no friendly, this is a key game that if England lose it, or even draw, could put their qualification in jeopardy, given they've got several potentially tough games to go yet, including away against Bulgaria and Montenegro.

And as to the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Adam Johnson is 2nd top goal scorer for England on 2 goals, and equal 2nd top scorer in Group G (with Vucinic of Montenegro and Stocker of Switzerland), with Defoe top on 3 goals for England and in the group, and Wayne Rooney by comparison only on 1 goal so far.

Is this what you do as England manager, leave your second top scorer and a key play maker entirely out of the squad?

So Fabio Capello, not content with ruining my World Cup last year by leaving a fully fit Johnson out then, is now doing it again in the Euro 2012 tournament as well.

And incidentally he's put in Johnson's nemesis who kept him out of the Middlesbrough first team, Stuart Downing, which must really have hacked Adam off big time (so some great people skills here from Capello), especially since Stuart Downing's England record is 24 games no goals and Adam Johnson's is 6 games (and several of them only short substitute appearances) and 2 goals already.

It doesn't add up to me, and I'm therefore still not convinced Capello really cares about this job, and still think he's only really concerned about his now well funded multi-million pound pension plan.

I won't say I foresee disaster on Saturday, but it's possible when you've got players like Bale and Bellamy playing "at home" against you, and you're putting out what appears likely to be another experimental and untested team, that isn't used to playing together, and without players like Ferdinand and Gerrard, to give it a feeling of identity and stability.

As it appears we're stuck with Capello for the moment, personally I'd suggest he makes Wayne Rooney the captain, just as Sven did with David Beckham, which played a great part in turning Beckham into the politically correct and iconic ambassador for English football he currently is.

It's a common way of getting somebody a bit wayward to mature, to give them more responsibility, so they have to try to live up to it, but apparently Capello is not bright enough to think of that, and gives it back to somebody who actually is never going to be accepted as a good role model.

Though I don't demand that footballers in general should be good role models (though it would be preferable) I think maybe the England captain job is an exception.

But at the end of the day, I don't think most fans really care who the captain is, but just whether England can finally achieve some kind of real success, even making a final of some major tournament like the Euro 2012.

I can't see it happening this time, because though I think Capello has got the players, either he is really not as good a manager as his past record suggested, or he simply doesn't care, or even worse, came only for the money, and is just stringing everybody along with no genuine concern for the England national football team, or even his reputation as a coach, because he's retiring anyway in 2012, and nobody back in Italy will do more than shake his hand for sinking England's World Cup and European hopes.

The only hope is that the media will hold him to account, but I don't see it as yet, the captaincy is a relatively minor issue, but leaving Adam Johnson out of the squad in a key match was a major one, and I haven't seen one football journalist questioning that decision.

It's possible as an athlete in your prime to get up to relatively fit within a few weeks, and Johnson will have had that time by Saturday's game.

There's just no good explanation why he's been left out, and I find it quite frankly sinister, when he is 2nd top scorer in England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

Quite frankly it might be better if England lose the game, to call into question Capello's continuing managership before it's too late.

My guess is that Harry, the only plausible other candidate I can see, will be available by England's next match against Switzerland at Wembley on the 4th June.

I don't know if England could win the Euro 2012 under Harry, but I'd feel confident, they'd qualify, and I'd know Harry was 100% behind the England cause.

Or I seriously believe that if Capello stays, there's a strong possibility England may not even make the finals of Euro 2012.

Incidentally, though you wouldn't normally expect Sir Alex Ferguson to be supporting England, it seems he may have done them a favour, as it's possible (I can't say for sure of course) that he's been party to the decision of Ryan Giggs to retire from football for Wales 4 years ago, as well as Berbatov's more recent retirement from Bulgaria also in Group G (Berbatov scored 48 goals in 77 games for Bulgaria - scary!).

Yes, I know Scholes is retired from England too, but Rooney and Ferdinand aren't, though it's funny how all these key Man U player keep retiring from international duty isn't it?

The only reason why there is so much hype surrounding the captaincy issue is because the team never produce anything good on the pitch worthy of discussing.

I been in the U.K for 6 years and I have heard ' We won the world cup in 1966' 100 more times than ' We will win the next world cup ' ..

With half you FA's budget 99% of the countrys in the world can do better than England .

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"93. At 11:35am on 23rd Mar 2011, HMMurdoch wrote:
At the end of the day, this generally will all boil down to a weak FA, who have no real power over the top tier of English football.

The biggest mistake the FA ever made was not appointing Brian Clough as England manager in the 70s/80's.

He would have made the changes in the whole structure of English football, and would have taken on the FA (and won) to make those changes. This is why he was never given the job.

I know I'm off on a tangent here, but that sort of appointment would have changed the face of our game for the better."

So who is the right man for the manager's role today?

Many supporters would say Redknapp but I wonder if the FA would think he's too risky - i.e. he'd speak his mind and show the FA up for the week minded set of sel-interested politicians they are

Agree totally with MrBlueBurns comment at 77. Particularly this bit: "I think the presentation of the story is in line with their agenda and overall, does not help the England team." Which is what I was trying to get at with my SAF comment, although admittedly not the best vehicle for saying it.

Yet again we're talking about something around the England Camp other than actual football in the lead up to a game, which can't be good for the players. It's created by the media to sell papers, just like all the headlines leading up to the world cup.