Less than a week ago, TheChelseaBlog questioned whether the real issue with England was the manager as opposed to who should captain the side and it seems his latest stunt has answered that question for us. Without so much as a chat to the previous captain, the England manager has permanently restored John Terry to the position after what he regards as a year of ‘punishment’.
But why should I be worried about that? I’m a Chelsea supporter after all and we should all be delighted, right? Wrong.
Firstly, as I’ve said previously, Capello stripped JT of the captaincy because he was pressured to by the media. Yes, Terry fucked up royally – not just with a team-mates bird but with other less than savoury goings-on that ended up on the front pages around that time as well. Did the England manager pull him aside and give him a warning though? Nope, he let the press decide Terry’s fate and simply carried out their wishes.
So, the England manager isn’t a man who knows his mind, which certainly isn’t what I want from the manager of my national side. If that’s the case though, you might ask why he’s given JT the armband back because there’s definitely not any media pressure to do so – quite the opposite I’d say.
Well, he knows he got it wrong. Rather than admit that though, he’s used Rio and Gerrard being out through injury to slip JT back into the position he wanted him in all along. He’s already admitted JT was his first choice – and if he wasn’t, why not pass the armband to Lampard, who did a good enough job in Denmark?
What really pisses me off though, quite apart from the fact he hasn’t even had enough respect to speak to Ferdinand before his decision was made (which by the way John should forewarn you what’s to come when he’s ready to dispense with your services in the future) is the lack of consideration for the timing of his announcement.
Capello said he’d give his decision the day before the Wales game, except England don’t play Wales today, Chelsea play bloody Man City – not that the England manager is arsed in the slightest. This is a game that has enough of a circus around it at the best of times and given both of our current positions, it’s a game all of our players really needed 100% of their focus on and Capello’s made sure that’s unlikely to be the case because all the talk ahead of the game will be on the England captaincy.
As far as I can see, Capello stripping JT of the England captaincy was a decision he simply bided his time to reverse. He’s made a complete mess of it – and the Chelsea captain will find himself dragged through the press as a result.
What I want from an England manager? Not even close!
CHELSEA>England
Blue is the colour
