John Terry and controversy are not two different things. Once again he has found himself in the midst of accusations for ill behavior and has consequently been stripped of national captaincy. This, expectedly poses questions like, should he be stripped of captaincy permanently? Who should lead England? The real issue, many fail to realize is not England’s captaincy. Sending England to the Euros with a different captain is not going to change their fortunes.
England's success is being hampered by loyalty to under-performing players. Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard for example are two top class footballers at club level (well, at least they were). On the international stage, they have been big failures (the expectations stem from standards they set). This list includes a lot of other names. Gerrard and Lampard are two of the most dragged-along names. Hence, I thought I should play with.
It is time the FA shakes up the system and takes a chance at the Euros. International football is scarce, so there is no real platform to judge youngsters.
Jack Wilshere, Micah Richards, Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck, Kyle Walker, Daniel Sturridge, Chris Smalling etc. are huge prospects for both club and country.
England should take the hard-man’s approach towards football. So, for them to begin performing to their expectations requires a manager who instills more confidence than Spain’s bookish, tactical approach or the guile that is the epitome of German football. It takes more than hairy-arsed Englishmen to play with flair and swagger and let’s face it, England can never achieve that.
After Capello, there should be a younger manager, someone brave enough to take risks by leaving out the big names for the sake of the team (Like Del Bosque warned Torres earlier this season that he should start performing if he wanted to make it to the Euros). A Martin O’Neill or a Tony Pulis seems to fit the bill perfectly. Contrastingly, the FA will come out naming Harry Redknapp as coach and England will continue sucking.
Now, addressing the immediate issue, there are a lot of players capable of leading England. But, the next captain should be young and hungry, which will be a statement in many ways.
1. The FA's support for bringing youngsters into the national team.
2. It shows England's hunger for success at international level because this brave approach will turn a few heads.
3. It shows that there is no fixed spot for any player, not even for the likes of Rooney.
These reasons in mind and from what I think should be a very young squad travelling to the Euros this year, Wayne Rooney, Micah Richards (he is already City’s vice-captain, which says a lot.) and Scott Parker are three names most suited for captaincy and best among these three would be Parker. He isn’t exactly young, but makes up for it with his hunger, the experience that coaches all over England (unnecessarily) crave for and gritty approach.
With these changes, England will meet its expectations and probably exceed them. English football is a style by itself, something not quite appreciated by critics for its extremely physical nature, but that is exactly what makes it exciting. Everybody loves a good fight. Football after all is a man's game and Englishmen are are no less.
