So John Terry is no longer the England captain.
Following a 12 minute meeting with Fabio Capello today, Terry was relieved of his duties as England captain. No great surprise there really because if the recent media circus following his off-pitch affairs wasn’t enough to convince Capello, then the England manager’s bombardment from the press on his return yesterday and additional allegations in today’s press would certainly have swayed his decision.
In a statement following the meeting, Capello says “After much thought, I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry. As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour. However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad. What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice. John Terry was notified first. When I chose John Terry as captain, I also selected a vice-captain and also named a third choice. There is no reason to change this decision. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the FA, particularly (chairman) Lord David Triesman and (chief executive) Ian Watmore, for allowing me to make this decision in my own time and in the best interest of the team.”
So, as Capello points out, Rio Ferdinand steps up to take the captain’s role with Stevie Me as vice-captain – make sense to you? Doesn’t make sense to me to be honest.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Terry losing the captaincy – although think he’d have been better off resigning it than being sacked – what I don’t understand though is Capello making no other changes to his leading men. Not that I’m all that bothered about Rio stepping up but a shrug of the shoulders isn’t exactly the same thing as being behind your international captain is it?
Ok, so he missed a drug test in the past but even I’d have to admit that was enough years ago to make no difference now. What puzzles me though is that he’s barely put a pair of boots on for his club this season so is he even likely to make the World Cup? Probably not. And then that leaves us with Stevie Me wearing the armband. Do me a favour. He might not have shagged his team-mates wives/girlfriends (as far as we know) but if Capello’s taking these decisions from a ‘professionalism’ point of view, then role modeling this definitely isn’t.
Personally, whilst Capello clearly didn’t have much choice when it came to taking the captaincy away from Terry, he did have a choice over who replaced him but that’s where he bottled it. He might well have made a bold statement when it came to the sort of behaviour he expects from a captain but when it came to putting in someone who could really take the team forward for the World Cup, it was all a bit of a predictable whimper really.
