John Terry Stripped of England Captaincy, Replaced by Rio Ferdinand

February 5th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

john-terry-england-home-shirt At the start of the week I asked Should John Terry Keep the England Armband? Reaction was pretty much mixed. Personally, I was happy either way, provided Terry wasn’t jettisoned altogether. We just don’t have enough quality defenders to do away with someone for having an affair.

Today, Fabio Capello made the decision. He sat down with Terry and told him he’s no longer the England captain, but will remain part of the team. Vice-captain Rio Ferdinand steps up to captain, third-captain Stevie Gerrard steps up to vice-captain. And that’s that.

I’m actually quite happy with this outcome. Obviously I would have preferred that the whole thing never happened, because the England camp seemed pretty steady before this story broke. But Fabio Capello has come in, made a decision, and now everyone knows where they stand.

John Terry has been punished and is slightly disgraced. But he still gets to play for England in South Africa, and will probably be outstanding when he does. Rio Ferdinand will wear the armband, Steven Gerrard will do so when Rio’s unavailable. Fabio Capello’s authority remains unquestioned.

Hopefully this will sort of blow over in time, and I’ll bet any money that while John Terry won’t be captain in South Africa, he’ll still do a lot of shouting and be something of a leader anyway. It’s only an armband after all.

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seif

I don’t know why English media don’t follow Matt Derbyshire more closely. He missed the first half of the season with Olympiakos with a groin injury and now he is in superb form, scoring the winner with a brilliant diving header last week before netting a brace today in a 5-1 win. Could do a job for England if a goalscorer is needed. He is far better than the now-overrated Owen!!
fares

you should never select a player playing in greece; a player from the championship would be better then!
seif

you don’t watch greece league apparently!!
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

I remember Matt Derbyshire at Blackburn and always thought he looked promising. I’m also very much in favour of English players playing abroad, because it doesn’t happen enough. But I think you sort of answered your own question seif. Derbyshire was mostly ignore because he was injured for the first half of the season.

You’ve given me an idea though, Maybe we should start a series of posts highlighting English players playing abroad. Pennant, Derbyshire and any others we can think of.