Ferguson Talks About Rooney's England And United Captaincy

Fabio Capello named Wayne Rooney the captain for England’s 2-0 defeat against Brazil because he is the best player in the squad.

Sir Alex Ferguson has reflected on this decision and also weighs up the chances of Rooney becoming our captain one day.

“You can see the qualities Wayne would bring to the captaincy,” said Ferguson. “His determination, his hunger and his desire to do well. He always tries, no matter how the team is playing. He always gives 100 per cent and these are wonderful qualities for a captain. He exemplifies the spirit of the whole team and other players can take that on board. So there are good reasons for making him captain. I think Fabio Capello made him England captain against Brazil because Wayne was the one regular player left. That was the key to it. But top players can take that responsibility. They’ve got their ego, reputation and pride to defend in that respect. As captain, you don’t want to let anyone down. And Wayne would be very much like that.”

Ferguson concedes that Rooney isn’t the ideal captain though, given his position, although recognises sometimes there can be exceptions to the rule.

“I’ve never been a real advocate of centre-forwards being captain, even though Eric Cantona did a fantastic job for us,” he added. “You tend to look at central defenders, midfielders or even goalkeepers. But there was one game when we were short of Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Edwin Van Der Sar. I was thinking of Wayne but I made John O’Shea captain, simply because of his longevity. He’s been with the club a long time and been a great servant. John’s a good type, captain material, which is why I chose him. But the next one in my mind in that game was Wayne.”

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