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Fabio Capello should name Steven Gerrard as new England captain - Graham Taylor
Former Three Lions boss backs the decision to remove John Terry from the role and feels the Chelsea defender will be 'upset' and 'let down' by the FA
4 Feb 2012 14:39:00
By John Stammers
Getty Images
Former England boss Graham Taylor has revealed that he thinks Fabio Capello will make Steven Gerrard the national side's new captain, adding that the Liverpool midfielder would be his choice if he returns to form.
The FA announced on Friday that John Terry had been stripped of the armband, as he awaits trial over charges of racial abuse, and Taylor admitted that he thought the correct decision had been made.
He told BBC Sport: "[Steven] Gerrard's been captain before and I'd expect [England boss Fabio] Capello to give it to him.
"If he gets his top-class form back, I think I would do the same.
"This is the correct decision. The FA have got it right, though they'll be accused of getting it wrong.
"It's a recognition of the embarrassment that could be caused both for [John] Terry and the England team.
"Terry will feel let down by the FA. He will feel upset because he's made it very clear that he could handle the situation.
"Playing on the football pitch is an escape for him.
"But they have taken the captaincy away so he will not be put into public positions as he would have been had he been captain. I think that helps him."
Gerrard has taken on the role before, as a trial when Capello first took control in 2008 and with Rio Ferdinand ruling himself out of the running, the Liverpool midfielder is the favourite to replace Terry.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart and Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker have also been tipped as possible choices, but Taylor, who also had two spells as Aston Villa boss, does not see them as viable options.
He continued: "While I understand that argument about keepers being captains because they can see the whole pitch, I'm still not a lover of it.
"He's sometimes too far away from people to really make his influence felt.
"[Scott] Parker has done extremely well. Whether he would be able to accept the captaincy at that level I don't know. I don't know him well enough."
The 67-year-old concluded that he was disappointed that manager Fabio Capello had not been involved in the events, hinting that he expected the Italian might not have agreed with the decision.
He said: "I would have liked to have heard that [Fabio] Capello was involved, or had at least been told before it became public.
"Having brought him back as captain I can imagine Fabio would have seen it as very difficult to pull him out."
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The FA announced on Friday that John Terry had been stripped of the armband, as he awaits trial over charges of racial abuse, and Taylor admitted that he thought the correct decision had been made.
He told BBC Sport: "[Steven] Gerrard's been captain before and I'd expect [England boss Fabio] Capello to give it to him.
"If he gets his top-class form back, I think I would do the same.
"This is the correct decision. The FA have got it right, though they'll be accused of getting it wrong.
"It's a recognition of the embarrassment that could be caused both for [John] Terry and the England team.
"Terry will feel let down by the FA. He will feel upset because he's made it very clear that he could handle the situation.
"Playing on the football pitch is an escape for him.
"But they have taken the captaincy away so he will not be put into public positions as he would have been had he been captain. I think that helps him."
Gerrard has taken on the role before, as a trial when Capello first took control in 2008 and with Rio Ferdinand ruling himself out of the running, the Liverpool midfielder is the favourite to replace Terry.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart and Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker have also been tipped as possible choices, but Taylor, who also had two spells as Aston Villa boss, does not see them as viable options.
He continued: "While I understand that argument about keepers being captains because they can see the whole pitch, I'm still not a lover of it.
"He's sometimes too far away from people to really make his influence felt.
"[Scott] Parker has done extremely well. Whether he would be able to accept the captaincy at that level I don't know. I don't know him well enough."
The 67-year-old concluded that he was disappointed that manager Fabio Capello had not been involved in the events, hinting that he expected the Italian might not have agreed with the decision.
He said: "I would have liked to have heard that [Fabio] Capello was involved, or had at least been told before it became public.
"Having brought him back as captain I can imagine Fabio would have seen it as very difficult to pull him out."
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
20:06 BST
So, that game gave a few players a chance to impress for England. Who did/didn't? Will Welbeck start against France? Or Carroll? Or Defoe?!
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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