by Anton Johan
Online betting sites had a field day before the weekend as odds were offered
on whether John Terry would be stripped of the English side captaincy or
not.
Bookies were also predicting who would replace Terry should he lose the
coveted arm band, with firm favourites being Rio Ferdinand and Steve Garrard.
Sky Bet believed that despite Terry's indiscretions and the affect they would
have on the team, he would keep his captaincy.
However, others were predicting that the team's management had no choice but
to strip Terry of his title.
It took Fabio Capella just ten minutes to make John Terry a FORMER captain of
the English squad after meeting with him, and announcing soon afterwards that
Rio Ferdinand would lead the team in his place.
Some eyebrows were raised at Capello's choice of substitute, as Ferdinand has
his own chequered past.
The Manchester United star moved up from his rank of vice-captain to take the
reins from Terry, despite the fact that he participated in a homemade video
depicting him taking part in an orgy while on vacation in Cyprus.
In 2003, he was fined and banned for eight months for missing a drugs test.
Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United boss revealed that the player would be
the next captain and spoke of the team's pride.
"It's great for Manchester United to have of our players captaining England,"
he said.
"Over the years we've had Gary Neville, Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson for
60 odd games or something, so we're proud of that.
Ferguson said that Ferdinand has learnt from past errors. "From the mistake
he made, he bounced back and came back a lot better," he said.
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