England: John Terry should be captain, says former skipper
Tony Adams is adamant John Terry should be chosen ahead of Rio Ferdinand to lead England into the World Cup qualifiers.
National team manager Fabio Capello has yet to make public his choice to wear the captain's armband, first against the Czech Republic in Wednesday's Wembley friendly and then into the qualification campaign.
It is understood that neither player yet knows whom Capello favours, with the Italian expected to name who will lead the team tomorrow.
Adams skippered both his country and his club side, Arsenal, on numerous occasions and argued that Chelsea captain Terry should have been made captain by Sven-Goran Eriksson instead of David Beckham two years ago.
Speaking at an England Fan's Forum hosted by sponsors Nationwide Building Society, he said: "I would choose John Terry, 100%. I always have and I always will. I went on record before the last World Cup that I thought he should have got it then.
"That is nothing against Becks as a captain. I thought he was an unbelievable captain who was magnificent for his country but he was coming to an age when, for me, we needed a Shaun Wright-Phillips or an Aaron Lennon to come on on the right side just to change the game.
"John would have played every minute of every game. He would have been my captain then and nothing has changed since for me. He is a great leader, a great man and a great footballer."
Capello has rotated the captaincy so far, with Steven Gerrard and Beckham also having led out the team in friendlies, but it is understood the final choice will be between the two centre-backs.
Manchester United defender Ferdinand is regarded as the favourite having impressed the Italian with his leadership against France in Paris in March. Terry was captain under previous manager Steve McClaren however and wore the armband again in May in an end-of-season friendly against the United States.
Adams, who is now Harry Redknapp's right-hand man on the training ground at Portsmouth, admitted he had no clear idea why Capello had not already appointed Terry.
"I have nothing against Stevie Gerrard, who I had the pleasure of playing with on his debut, or Rio. They are both great players but John Terry can organise it and lead better than anyone else.
"Why has he not already chosen him? Maybe he doesn't know him as well as I do. He may have been giving himself time to assess the situation. You would have to ask him.
"If I had come from another country and was not too sure of the characters of the personnel I have got having only seen them on TV then maybe I would give myself the time and space by rotating the captaincy. That's the only reason I can come up with."
Capello left out Peter Crouch, who left Liverpool for Portsmouth in the close season, for the friendly against the Czechs and Adams regarded that as an error too.
He said: "He has taken a blow. We need to pick him up and get on with it. When I saw him at Liverpool he used to come on and was a super player. And he certainly never let his country down so being left out was a sad day for Peter.
"You learn a lot about people when something like that happens. I was left out of the 1990 World Cup and you come back if you have got anything about you. You either go under or you fight back and hopefully Peter is a fighter."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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