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Liverpool star loses out - but does it really matter?
Written by JR Walker | 11th August 2006 | 0 Comment(s)
England boss Steve McClaren has made what he says is a major decision, but how major actually is it?
There won't be many that will be overly surprised that Chelsea's captain John Terry has been named as England's new captain.
After England's exit from the World Cup David Beckham stepped down as his country's captain leaving the Chelsea skipper and Steven Gerrard, Liverpool's leader, as the two obvious candidates.
It may or may not make a vast difference as to which player was selected to lead his Country, as you would imagine that most International players shouldn't actually require that much leadership.
Sometimes of course a younger player comes into the team, but then it should be the job of all the experienced players, and whoever is playing in a position near to that player, to help him settle.
There does seem a difference between England and many other nations as to the importance placed on the identity of their captain.
For example, the present World Champions Italy has a system where the most capped player is naturally the captain and no-one is particularly bothered as to who that may be, which seems to make a little bit of sense.
Terry at twenty five years old has been capped twenty nine times by England and has led his club Chelsea (with a little help from the owner) to two consecutive Premiership titles, whereas Gerrard, the new ‘vice-captain' (which may be useful in cricket, but not that important in football) is a year older than Terry has 47 caps and has lifted the Champions League Trophy.
McClaren, England's new master of operations, told the FA's Web site that the choosing of a captain is one of the most important decisions a coach has to make (tactics will hopefully be a little higher on his agenda).
He felt confident that he had made the correct choice and that he could develop into one of the best ever England captains.
Of course being captain will probably mean Terry will have to put himself forward as one of the penalty-takers following the quarter-final of Euro 2008, and as vice captain Gerrard will also have to have another bash.
Terry's first task will be to speak eloquently to the press before proudly leading out England in the friendly against European Champions Greece in Manchester next Wednesday, which should provide McClaren with a winning start.
However, with the first round of Premiership fixtures to follow at the weekend Jose Mourinho will probably implore McClaren to let his captain throw the armband at someone else at some point in the game.
There is never a good time to play International friendlies, but it may have been more sensible to have at least let the clubs have an uninterrupted week in the lead up to the big kick-off and put the season back one week.
McClaren will need all the cooperation he can get during his tenure and the club managers will not be too impressed if any of their players come back with small knocks that rule them out of their first match.
Again the Italians, along with the Spanish, seem to have the right idea when organising their seasons, as they leave themselves plenty of time after a World Cup for their players to recuperate due to their annually late start.
In a World Cup year couldn't England do the same, and then revert to a more traditional earlier start when there is no summer tournament having been contested?
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