Following on from Nick Dobson’s blog about the England captaincy and who deserves it, I feel that similarly to Spain and Italy, the captain should be the man with the most caps. This takes the pressure off the manager who can then deal with the more pressing matters. This also means that managers don’t have to pick a player because he is the current holder of the armband. The captaincy just moves along to the next man in line, the heir to the throne if you will.
People will say that a captain has to be a leader of men, a warrior who will put his body on the line for his country but surely a country of England’s size and passion should have eleven leaders on the pitch. The honour of captain should in my opinion be earned by playing year after year and earning the respect of your team mates, the number of caps being an indication of experience.
Football unlike cricket and to some extent rugby does not need a captain to make game changing decisions. Captaincy in football is merely honorific, where the manager calls the shots and the captain is the link between referees and the players and manager to players.
Ashley Cole is currently the most capped player with any real chance of going to the Euros and even though I wouldn’t like to have a drink with the man, he has earned the right to captain his country. Cole is the first choice left back and in my opinion will hold on to that berth for the next couple of seasons so I think he is the best man for the job.
Time will tell whether the captaincy of England was really worth losing the best manager they have had in a long time…
Liam Kenna
Whilst I agree with your view, the fly in the ointment, once again, is the FA. The role of captain for England brings with it so many other duties that selection by caps, for example, could produce some distressing results; you wouldn't want to see a billboard with Gary Neville's mugshot on it!
ReplyDeleteFor Fucks sake, that's what's wrong with it all....who gives a fuck what Gary Neville looks like, I've seen billboards/adverts with David Beckham in his £9.99 underpants, now that is distressing. Overpaid, overhyped, over protected. Game over, big business wins again, and who pays? The fans do, and they seem quite happy stumping up the overpriced tickets to stand and watch a player who's hair transplant cost twice my yearly salary. Still at least he looks good......not!
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