Much has been made of the England captaincy since John Terry was stripped of the England captaincy for the second time after racial allegations against the Chelsea defender. Who would of been the right choice to replace him? With a sea of names popping up in people's minds, it was always going to be a tough call for interim boss Stuart Pearce over who to give the captaincy to, not just in the upcoming friendly against Holland but in future games and also it could be a pointer as to who will captain England in Euro 2012.
Stuart Pearce for me has gone with the ideal candidate in Scott Parker, a man who is in fine form for both club and country, has enough experience at both levels and also has all the attributes to captain his country. Parker's mixture of technical ability and his astounding determination and work-rate prove for me that he is the right man for the job, e.g. a winner and an all-round amazing sportsman. Despite him being a Spurs player (people would shout "BIAS" at my corner if I were to say otherwise), I love Scott Parker and the way he goes about playing football and asserts himself, he is a good old-fashioned English midfielder who is tough-tackling and will run his heart out all day long. Last season for West Ham he made a speech at half-time which brought some of the players to tears when they were 3 - 0 down to West Brom, out came the West Ham players in the second half and they grabbed a 3 - 3 draw, most say that this was down to Parker's speech and leadership. Yes, the speech was to no avail as the Hammers were relegated at the end of the season, but it signaled Parker's loyalty, heart and overall, his professionalism. Despite being a player who was overlooked in his early days, Parker has now become a player which people love to have in their team (as an Arsenal fan I would loved to have seen him made the switch to the red half of North London). Parker's professionalism was also present in the recent North London derby where he made a bad challenge on Arsenal centre-back Thomas Vermaelen. Parker's honest attempt to win the ball was late and he was subsequently sent off for the tackle for a second bookable offence but Parker straight away knew what he had done and was trying to apologize to Vermaelen, he then took the red card with no complaints as he knew his tackle was late. He also recently won Vauxhall's England Player of the year award which has shown just how far the midfielder has come. With only 3 caps up until 2011, he is now up to 11 caps which show just how majorly he has been overlooked until the latter stages of his career.
The other name which had popped upwas England vice-captain, Steven Gerrard who many would have seen as the best candidate and favourite due to his experience at international and club level, also he's been Liverpool captain for donkeys years and has always been the man they have looked to for a bit of magic and heart to lift them. I don't think Gerrard would have been the best choice because of his recent injury problems and he is not a guaranteed starter for England anymore.
Who would you have chosen for England captain? Parker, Gerrard or someone else?
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