John Terry is the new captain of England. The announcement was made as if we had to wait to know this. There was hardly a contest. He was just ‘the’ man. There is a widespread belief that Gerrard gave a run for his money, but that was all based on opinion polls conducted by the websites. With the huge Liverpool fanbase, even Crouch would get voted as one of the top 100 strikers of EPL.

May be, Steve McLaren thought Jose Mourinho could not have made a mistake when he gave the responsibility to Terry, when he was just 23, in the 2004-05 season. After all he won two back-to-back titles captaining Chelsea. Terry has all that it takes for leading any team. He commands respect, knows his job, can organise and present a very strong presence on the pitch.Gerrard is good but not good enough. The 30-yard screamers are great but need not make him a good captain. His poor PR skills were in display when he welcomed the new Liverpool signing Craig Bellamy saying “Everybody says they were always a Red when they join, don’t they?”. On the other hand, you have Terry who gets hold of Michael Ballack’s cab driver’s phone number and welcomes him on his way to his first training day.

Anyway, I personally dont prefer the goal scorers always hogging the limelight. I’m happy that a central defender has become a captain of the England team. Anyway, good start for the season, I would say.