LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Manchester United strikerWayne Rooney has put aside club rivalry by stating thatLiverpool’s Steven Gerrard would be the best man to lead Englandat Euro 2012.
England are without a permanent coach or captain after JohnTerry was stripped of the armband by the Football Associationpending a racial abuse trial and manager Fabio Capello quit inprotest.“For everyone asking, I would love to be England captain.But that’s up to new manager to decide. Gerrard is perfectchoice for me,” Rooney wrote on his Twitter feed.
Rooney, who can not play in the first two Euro 2012 groupgames against France and Sweden because of suspension, is seenby pundits as an unlikely pick for captain with Gerrard thebookmakers’ favourite for the role whoever takes over as coach.
Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce is in temporary charge for thismonth’s friendly against Netherlands with Tottenham Hotspurmanager Harry Redknapp tipped by Rooney and the media to beapproached about becoming the fulltime coach before or afterEuro 2012.
FA chairman David Bernstein is determined not to rush anappointment and said age was no barrier to 64-year-old Redknapp.
“I can understand the hype around Harry. The guy has doneamazingly,” he told British newspapers on Sunday.
“He is a fine manager and he is English. This job will be soattractive to many people, we will get interest from seriousparties in spite of this hype.”
Rooney’s preference for midfielder Gerrard as captain comesafter the forward scored twice as hosts United beat Liverpool2-1 on Saturday in a game marred by Luis Suarez refusing toshake Patrice Evra’s hand.
Liverpool striker Suarez was banned for eight games forracially abusing Evra in October and his fresh antics werefollowed by scuffles in the tunnel at halftime between theteams, who are fierce rivals and whose animosity has previouslyspilled over into the England setup.
No comments:
Post a Comment