England midfielder Michael Carrick insists Rio Ferdinand’s appointment as national captain will not wreck the summer push for World Cup glory.
England midfielder Michael Carrick insists Rio Ferdinand’s appointment as national captain will not wreck the summer push for World Cup glory.
Carrick believes that his Manchester United team-mate Ferdinand has all the right credentials to succeed axed John Terry.
“Rio’s a terrific leader and a terrific captain. He's a world-class player. He's done it in the Champions League final and won it, so it won't faze him in that respect,” The Sun quoted Carrick, as saying.
“Rio has the respect of the players and that's an important thing so I'm sure he'll be successful. Once you're on the pitch you've all got to lead in some way so I don't think it will affect things too much,” he added.
England manager Fabio Capello reportedly stripped Terry of the national team’s captaincy to preserve the unity of the dressing room ahead of the World Cup in South Africa.
Terry was dismissed in a brief face-to-face meeting at Wembley over his affair with an ex-girlfriend of left-back Wayne Bridge.
The 29-year-old’s position had been in doubt since it emerged two weeks ago that he had conducted a four-month affair with Vanessa Perroncel.
Capello had spent a week considering the situation from Switzerland, where he was recovering from knee surgery, and returned to London on February 5 having decided that Terry’s position was untenable.
In a meeting that lasted no longer than half an hour, Terry was told by Capello that he was removing the armband in the interests of the squad.
Capello is understood to have reached the view that the betrayal of trust demonstrated by Terry’s affair with Perroncel, and the distracting publicity it has attracted, risked destabilizing the team.
“After much thought, I have made the decision that it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry,” Capello said in a official statement.
“As a captain with the team, John Terry has displayed extremely positive behaviour. However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad. What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice,” he added.
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