Thursday, February 09, 2012

Heidur Helguson for QPR (v Chelsea), 23 October 2011

English football in 'shambles' shocker. With a major tournament around the corner, the FA intervene and strip John Terry of the England captain without consulting the manager. The manager resigns. England have no captain, no manager and naff all chance of winning Euro 2012.

In many ways, I don't blame Fabio Capello for leaving. His heart doesn't appear to have been in the job for some time, and the FA's decision to step in clearly undermined the manager who, frankly, should be the one to pick his own captain.

Saying all that, quite why you'd leave a £6 million job over John bloody Terry, heaven only knows. Remember that Capello was the man who stripped Terry of the England captain's job in 2010 after reports he had an affair with Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend. Considering Capello made that decision based on a load of tabloid tittle-tattle, it seems odd that he'd dig his heels in now over a far more serious issue - namely Terry being accused of a criminal offence while performing his job as a central defender for Chelsea.

Personally, I'd not have John Terry anywhere near my England squad anyway. The defender has been dogged by controversy his whole career (although on that basis you'd struggle to get an England team together in this day and age) from assault charges to allegations that he misused his position at Chelsea to 'sell' tours of the club's training facilities.

Plus, the 31 year old is clearly not the player he once was, and there are a handful of better, younger defenders that deserve their chance.

Stuart Pearce will take charge of England for their next match, before Harry Redknapp is likely to take over (although why he'd leave a very successful Spurs team for us all to call him an incompetent nincompoop when England get knocked out of Euro 2012 in the quarter finals, Lord only knows).

Considering all that's happened in recent weeks, we might as well appoint Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra as the next England managers. Nonsense.

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