Capello Spoke To Squad About Captaincy... But Not Rio

Fabio Capello has today dug himself a deeper ditch after revealing that despite still not having spoken to Rio Ferdinand about the captaincy issue, he spoke to all the squad!

“I spoke with the players and personally with some players, and I spoke with the squad before I decided that John Terry will be the captain,” said Capello. “All the players were happy because John Terry was always a very important leader on the pitch and to the team.”

After announcing to the press that he was likely to give the armband back to Terry, Capello headed to Old Trafford. He was supposed to meet with Rio but the press claimed no official meeting had been arranged, so Rio didn’t go running around trying to find him.

Capello has been asked today as to why, a whole week later, he still hasn’t spoken to Rio about taking the captaincy off him and replacing him with the shamed John Terry.

“I know that Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard are not fit. I knew it was the moment, with one game which is so important, to have one captain like John Terry,” said Capello. “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 in the future. It didn’t happen, he didn’t come. Its a question for him, not for me. I was in the directors’ box. You have to ask him, okay?”

Sadly, it appears as though Rio’s club team mate, Wayne Rooney, is amongst those giving his backing to Capello and Terry.

“For us as players it’s down to the manager who he picks as captain,” he said. “There is nothing we can do to influence Fabio Capello’s decision. I don’t think Rio Ferdinand is fit and he hasn’t played for us for a while at United, so the manager has to make that decision. The captain has to wear the armband. You have to shout and be a leader but I have said many times that John Terry, even when he is not the captain, is a massive leader for us.”

Cheers Wayne. How Rio could even consider playing for this man and amongst those players is beyond me. Every England player asked has said they’re “100% behind Terry” and not a single one of them has spoken out over how badly Rio has been treated. I’d love to hear what Gary Neville would have made of the disgraceful behaviour of the manager and team mates in light of the treatment of Rio. Turns out that Terry isn’t the only England player who doesn’t give a fuck about his team mate…