Captain Terry, Once More Unto the Breach

John Terry has been named as Fabio Capello's England Captain. He's (not literally) beaten off strong competition from Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard. However… how important is it really that John Terry is England Captain?

The captaincy is not like in Rugby, where only the Captain can speak with the referee (and if that was the case Terry would almost certainly have been overlooked).

The captaincy is not like in Cricket, where the Captain is more like a Manager, constantly monitoring the performance of the team and making decisions to affect the game, ultimately responsible for success and failure.

The captaincy is not like in park football, where the Captain is responsible for picking the players, having to decide which fat kid will be better to be left in goal (certainly not Paul Robinson).

Most comments in the press since the announcement have supported the decision, but also admitted it didn't really matter who was selected because between Terry, Ferdinand, Gerrard etc all of the candidates would have excelled.

Joe Cole, Master of Articulation, summarises it brilliantly, "There are captains all over the pitch. There is not much to choose between John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and Ashley Cole"

He goes on to say the England Captain responsibilities are little more than "A spokesman for the team, for the media, obviously liaise with the Manager… make sure everything's going well, that everyone's happy, but on the pitch, when you step on the pitch everyone has to take responsibility"

The England Captaincy is more about the media than the football pitch, being Fabio Capello's no.2 for press conferences, to make the important interviews, to exchance pennants at kick-off, and wear a symbolic armband. Sure you wouldn't want a quiet, young inexperienced lad taking the armband... but has this England Captaincy debate been blown out of proportion?