There has been much spoken and written about the England captaincy in recent weeks. The whole thing has become a bit of a farce and quite ridiculous to be honest. But Rio has every right to be peeved with Capello and I think he should now step aside from the English national team.
What Happened?
Let’s have a quick recap: John Terry has an affair with Wayne Bridge’s missus. Capello strips Terry of English captaincy as the captain needs to have the respect of all the players and represent loyalty and unity within a team; clearly something the Chelsea skipper no longer had in the national set up. Capello says Terry will never captain England again while he is in charge. Ferdinand then suffers a mid season injury, ruling him out of a good proportion of the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Capello needs a new captain. He re-instates Terry.
The ‘Non-Meeting’
When pushed on the handling of the issue and why he had not met with Ferdinand, Capello replied: ‘I tried to meet him (Ferdinand) when Manchester United played against Marseille but he told me no. ‘I can understand everything, but I need to make decisions. I think I will be happy and will meet him (Ferdinand) in the future.’ Strange. Go on please Mr.Capello: ‘It didn’t happen, he didn’t come. It’s a question for him, not for me. I was in the directors’ box. You have to ask him, OK?’
Ferdinand was obviously disappointed to lose the captaincy in this manner and didn’t want to meet Capello. However, this is a idiotic approach by Capello at the press conference. By saying things like ‘ask him, i was there’, he is publicly antagonizing Ferdinand. What did Rio do to deserve that? Capello was very firmly placing the blame at Ferdinand’s door. Can you imagine Fergie publicly talking about one of his current players like that in a press conference?
Rio has stated many times in the past how he loves to play for his country but it won’t be easy to go back and play under Capello given the Italian’s treatment of him.
Rift with Terry
There has been many indications that Rio and Terry are at conflict at the moment. It is still not clear where the players themselves stand but their ‘people’ are apparently at loggerheads. It is not easy to envisage the two playing alongside each other in the centre of the England defence. It may well happen as Ferdinand loves playing for his country but it is definitely a bridge that will need mending.
Injuries and Age
Rio’s injury problems are well documented. He has consistent trouble with his back, among other niggles. In truth, it is rare now to see him play over five games in a row. He is now 32 and there is no doubt in my mind that he could prolong his United career by stepping aside from England. Look at Scholesy. Fergie will be saying this to him as well, surely. He is in a position now where he has to really look after his body if he wants to play on for a number of more years. The rigors of international football won’t aid that.
Time to Retire from England
I must state that I am not English so this is not a difficult conclusion for me to come to. It would probably be a different scenario if I was, to be honest. I am looking at this from a United perspective, purely. Ferdinand has been poorly treated by Capello, who has mismanaged the whole situation terribly and been made to look incredibly weak. There are issues between him and John Terry as well as serious injury problems for Ferdinand. Time to step aside in my book.
Interested to get other people’s views on this. Should Rio retire from England?
Submitted by Glory Glory Man Utd
