Three days have passed since the Euros got over. We haven’t signed anyone. Doom, gloom and hearts stopping left, right and centre. People are dying. Wayne Rooney is partying in Vegas with his newly married wife with the likes of Le Bron James in tow. Fergie’s giving interviews over a game of golf. Ronaldo is off to Sardinia with his bird. Queiroz is being linked to the Portugal job.
We are dead. That is all. End of the world. We’d be lucky to survive in the Premiership. So let’s talk about all that is left to talk about: the captaincy debate. [Doesn’t it worry you that, that is the only topic left to be discussed with more than a month to go before the season begins?]
Gary Neville has been a good captain for United without doubt. He has what it needs to be a United captain: determination, pride to wear the red shirt, leadership, seniority, respect in the dressing room, but more importantly he is a mad-passionate United fan at heart who wears it on his sleeve when he steps out on to the field; cue: the celebration in the Liverpool game in the 05/06 season, being the most recent and popular example.
But with age and injury resulting in him hardly making an appearance last season, there are serious question marks over his fitness. Will he be able to wrest the right back slot from Wes Brown who, to his credit, has stepped in magnificently? If he was fully fit, which one can discern from the pre-season preparations, Ferguson will no doubt give him a go and assess his worth. But considering captaincy is a decision to be made at the start of the season would it be unfair on Rio considering his role last season?
Which brings us to the next part: could Fergie opt for Rio instead? Looking at performances, purely over the course of last season, Rio Ferdinand was a man mountain at the back; rock solid in defence and showed so much desire for winning and topped it off by signing a five year contract with United — and at 29 that ought to keep him at United till his powers wane. Considering all this it is a no brainer to opt for Rio.
But we know Fergie’s loyalty towards the old guard at United. [Note: I am not saying this in a bad way.] He is known for backing those that have stayed loyal to him; which is why for all his greatness, Giggsy’s appointment as captain didn’t sit too well with many fans. To me he doesn’t have the leadership ability as he isn’t quite the vocal player on the pitch. And honestly I don’t expect him to be wearing the arm band, barring substitutions, next season.
Personally I would go with Rio Ferdinand and I’ve mentioned the reasons countless times before (here’s an instance). Some people may thing of Wayne Rooney as a possible option, but I think he still has some way to go.
Anyway, who would you go with?
* * *
And before someone brings this up let me tell you straightaway that it looks spurious to say the least. The report is from Marca, the media mouth piece of Madrid. Now I am not well versed in Spanish, but thanks to Google Translate, here’s the translated version; not perfect but gives an idea of how dubious it could be. On first impressions it sounds like Real want to assure its fans that Ronaldo will be signed — considering how quiet it’s gone on that front.

100 Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment Login