Frank Lampard has insisted that selecting Rio Ferdinand as the next England international captain was the right choice for everyone concerned.

After John Terry was stripped of the role, there were calls emerging for great transparency within the England team and all players concerned. Fans and pundits alike seemed to want a new figure to represent England as opposed to a player with a damaged past.

Now England have a captain that was banned from football for missing a drugs test and a vice captain who has been in court for assault. Not to mention John Terry’s latest activities, which do not exactly inspire confidence down the spine of the team.

The point is that historically, Fabio Capello and England have both liked a defender in the role as captain. The defence is often seen as one of the most tactical areas to play in a football team and many captains like to lead from the back.

Lampard said: “John and Rio are both big personalities. The England captain has to be someone vocal in the squad and (Ferdinand) has always been a popular fella in the dressing room and he is easy to get on with.”

“The controversy of the changeover and everything is unfortunate but now it has changed Rio deserves it and will give it a great crack.”

“Wayne is our best player, especially at the moment, and he is the one that can really make things happen for us off the cuff. To burden him at that age (24) would have been the manager’s decision, but I think it is a good idea not to.”

“I think he will be England captain one day for sure. This has brought up a whole talk about England captaincy but you need a few captains on the pitch.”

England need to be structured and strong if they are to have any chance of success in South Africa this summer. Ferdinand already has experience of captaincy in the Manchester United side so it is important to look at the positives instead of the negatives.

Hopefully the team will pull together at just the right time and put all of these bad feelings and bad pasts behind them. On too many occasions, the best football players in the country are in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons when we just want to see them playing and doing well.

There had been strong calls for Wayne Rooney to be given the armband but the decision not to is probably the right one. Rooney needs to focus entirely on himself and his own game and not have to worry about other responsibilities. This will mean he can be ready and willing to rip the heart out of many sides.

If he was made skipper and then did not perform as well as everyone hoped then there would have been uproar and Rooney probably would have been forced to give up the role. Ferdinand has the job now and it’s important that we all get behind him and the team.

Rio Ferdinand has escaped the axe ahead of England’s game against Belarus this evening. Ferdinand was the cause of the error that led to goalkeeper, Robert Green, from being sent off against Ukraine over the weekend.

Fabio Capello has demanded an automatic improvement from his side and the Italian is no stranger to making strong and instant decisions. England were below the normal standards that he expects against Ukraine and he has said that the fact England have already qualified is irrelevant as to what he is trying to achieve.

He said: “I asked him what happened. I spoke with him about the moment, and different things, but only about the last game. I spoke with him on Monday, this morning, and I will speak on the day of the game. He’s a good man, a big man, an important player for England and United.”

“Rio will play because he is one of the best defenders in England. He needs to play. The experience of Rio will be very important for us. I have big confidence in him. He will play and I’m sure he will get better with every game.”

“We spoke after the game against Ukraine and he thought he’d be fit [Steven Gerrard], perhaps for this game. He practised with us, but after ten minutes he felt it. Gerrard decided to stay here. We asked him what he thought and he thought he’d be fit. If he’d not been fit, he’d have gone home, but he’ll be fit in two or three days. The Liverpool manager will decide if he plays on Saturday as they have the Champions League afterwards. But it’s not a big problem.”

“James is not good. He’s getting better, but if he’s not 100 per cent he can be on the bench. We didn’t choose Foster originally because we spoke with United and they told us he could train only after Thursday. We chose the player who was fit [Joe Hart].”

So it is clear that Capello is thinking about mixing up the side a little bit but his overlying message has never changed. He is a perfectionist and will probably never be happy until John Terry is holding the little golden trophy above his head in South Africa next yea

As for now, the focus is on Belarus and the point is that Capello seems to know the right balance between showing faith in the players that need it and making changes when they are necessary.

England suffered their first defeat of the World Championship Qualifying stage over the weekend, losing 1-0 to Ukraine. A bad mistake from Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, saw Robert Green left in a compromising position and the West Ham United goalkeeper was subsequently sent off.

It was one of the poorer performances from Fabio Capello’s new England side and they were found wanting in a number of key areas. The side will have to drastically improve the way they play in these sort of matches if they want to entertain any ideas of success by the time South Africa arrives next year.

The defence will be that this sort of game is meaningless for England as they have already officially qualified. However, Capello is said to have been furious over the performance and has demanded better from his team in the immediate future.

He said: “Rio made just one mistake. The ball bounced and he didn’t judge the direction of the ball well, but afterwards he played a good game like the other players. Rio has made some mistakes, but you can’t question his value.”

England captain, John Terry, added: “There’s been the odd game when defending has been a problem and individual mistakes as well, but that’s something we’ll have to work on.”

“We wanted to walk away with ten wins [in World Cup qualifying group six], but haven’t managed to do that. We weren’t at it and they were better than us from the start.”

“We really need to use these games as learning curves now. It will be nice to get a win at home on Wednesday to give the fans that good feeling again. I don’t feel for Rio. I don’t have to look out for him. He’s a world-class player. He’s suffered from a couple of injuries of late, but when he’s in and around the team he’s great to have around the place.”

It may be the first signs that Ferdinand is not as good as he once was because he gifted Manchester City a goal in the recent Manchester derby. Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have been frustrated during practice at the way Ferdinand is making a few too many basic errors.

If England are going to succeed in South Africa then Ferdinand and Terry need to be solid and there is no room for any errors at all. One slip up and that’s it, you are out of the World Cup. The stakes are high, higher maybe than they have ever been before.

Sheffield United goalkeeper, Paddy Kenny, has been banned for nine months after he failed a drugs test. The Football Association slapped the huge ban on the player after they called the incident intolerable and the move may have effectively ended the player’s career.

The 31 year old took a test after the Championship semi-final play-off win over Preston North End and tested positive for the banned substance, ephedrine. The player will not be able to play another match until April 2010 and has so far attracted an enormous amount of criticism from his fellow players and fans alike.

A statement read: “its use was not intended to enhance performance,” but the point is that the player should have been fully aware of what was entering his body. There is a whole list of professional sportsman that have been banned over time for taking substances that they have been ignorant to. The most common can sometimes be found in every day medicines but even the smallest quantity can lead to a positive drugs test and a heavy ban.

Rio Ferdinand was banned at the start of his Manchester United career, for a period of eight months after it emerged that he had failed to take a routine drugs test. In that instant the player was not even found guilty of substance abuse but was heavily punished in the same vein.

There have been calls from some corners of football that Kenny should not be allowed to play ever again. However, the FA say that are convinced enough that the player may not have taken the substance intentionally, but it does not excuse the fact it was there and hence the ban will not be lifted.

Sheffield United boss, Kevin Blackwell, said: “Paddy is devastated and has gone home. He has a lot to think about because he’s banned completely from playing and training. I find it hard to believe the severity of the ban considering that it was accepted that the substance wasn’t taken for performance enhancement. There’s an appeals procedure and we will sit down and talk over the next few days and discuss the situation fully with all concerned.”

“Let this be a warning to all players. They will be under the strictest scrutiny. And if they feel ill and reach for the medicine cabinet, they must be very sure that what they take doesn’t contain any of the substances on the banned list, however innocently it might be taken.”

England manager, Fabio Capello, says that he will have to be ruthless if his defensive players do not tighten up. Capello was visibly annoyed during the 2-1 home friendly victory over Slovenia at the weekend but the manager says there are worries in defence.

England won the match thanks to goals from Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe but were worryingly loose in defence, which was shown when Slovenia grabbed their consolation goal.

Capello has a history of dropping players without a second thought and has been previously involved in a number of heated arguments and exchanges at a variety of clubs he managed at before taking the England job.

Capello said: “Sometimes I shout but this time not. I will explain what I want them to do – if they want to stay with me.”

It is unlikely that Capello will make huge changes ahead of England’s World Cup qualifying match with Croatia on Wednesday. If England win the match then they will become one of the first teams to secure a place at next summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

However, the point is that another bad performance in defence from England could lead to a number of players falling out of favour with the coach and it could open up a corridor of possibility for fringe players that would not have been expecting a chance.

England have the team and the ability to do very well at the World Cup but the fundemental basis of Capello’s game is built around having a tight defence. Mathew Upson has not impressed since he was given the nod to replace Rio Ferdinand and Capello may opt to go for less experience but more desire in future games.

England’s strongest defensive pairing is still John Terry and Rio Ferdinand but the worry is what comes after this. Capello has already tried a variety of combinations that have for some reason or another not worked and the reliance on big name players is worrying.

There is no room for egos or mistakes in what the Italian is trying to achieve with the English national side. As he has said himself, there is room to do big and great things but this requires commitment and focus in every single national game that is played. England will not get off so lightly against better opposition.

Any lapse in concentration against an Italy, Germany, Spain or France, even for the smallest amount of time could be the difference between failure and success for England. Complete and utter focus is necessary if the side are to have any chance of winning a major tournament that they can do.

Sheffield United goalkeeper, Paddy Kenny, has let a lot of people down including himself with the news that he has recently failed a drugs test. The keeper apparently bought some cough mixture that contained a substance that was banned by the Football Association.

It is no surprise that he has subsequently been suspended by his club and now faces the prospect of a massive two-year ban from the game that is likely to dent the immediate future of any career ambitions he may have had.

The point is that Kenny is not a young player, he is one of the more experienced in the Sheffield United side and he should have known better. He obviously knew what he was taking and the risks it involved and he should have gotten every thing checked out before he made any decisions. Fair enough this was only a medicine but the point is that in the modern game you have to be so careful about what is going into your body.

It will not look good to a number of the younger professionals at Sheffield United that would have looked up to him. Kenny has been a corner stone of the Sheffield United team for longer than many would care to remember and he would probably be the last person that a number would name to be involved in such an incident. He had a good club and a bright future and he has thrown all of this away in a moment of madness.

Kenny would be lucky if United kept him on because they would be well within their rights to just sack him completely and let him go to another club. For a side that is trying to break into the Premier League they do not need this type of publicity being attached with the club.

Had Sheffield United won the play-off final and been promoted to the Premier League then you can predict that the club that lost out would have been calling for the FA to intervene as United’s goalkeeper quite obviously cheated. It is irrelevant whether he knew what he was doing, the point is that there are strict codes and conventions and it could well have ended up in some sort of court case, let’s just be grateful that United didn’t actually get promoted.

This is not the first time that a high calibre player has been involved in a drugs scandal. It must not be forgotten that not too long ago Rio Ferdinand was banned for 18 months after he failed to carry out a drugs test. On that occasion it was not actually proven that Ferdinand had taken any thing and yet he was still banned for an enormous length of time.

So the risks for any player who are toying with the idea of taking a medical substance or something similar are massive and now they will quite clearly know that it is probably too much of a risk to do. It’s quite simple to get around, if you have a cough and you are unsure over whether you can take something then just go and see the physio who will tell you yes or no. It is not rocket science.

There have also been cases where players have been pulled up over taking a number of recreational drugs in their own time. In these instances the players in question have all been sacked from their sides and it is doubtful that they will ever be able to get a contract playing football again.

Sheffield United now face the long and hard task of trying to find a high profile replacement to come in and take Kenny’s place. This will be difficult because every week he probably would have been the first name to go down on the team sheet. When you get into such a routine of being able to pick a player without thinking about the decision, this makes the task to bring someone in to replace him even more difficult.

United will just want the matter dealt with. They have been in the news a lot over the last one or two seasons for all of the wrong reasons. Firstly, there was the saga involving Carlos Tevez who was playing for West Ham United and scored the goal that relegated the club. A court case followed over Tevez’s ownership and that resulted in West Ham paying United a large sum earlier this year.

The point is that although the club got a bit of money out of this they probably just want to focus on the football as opposed to having to deal with such negative press all of the time. They have done well to deal with the Kenny incident so quickly as it will allow them to move forward with a new keeper who can help them progress.

For Kenny the options are quite simple. He now has a very long time out of the game to think about what he has done and whether he wants to continue his career in football. Once the two years are up he will probably find a slightly lower profile team that will give him a contract but he needs to decide whether he loves the game enough in order to make this sacrifice.

He only has himself to blame and should be ashamed the next time he goes out onto the streets of Sheffield and quite likely the fans will heckle him. As a top level professional you have a responsibility to your club, your fans but more importantly yourself. You cannot toy with medical issues and in this case it has grossly come back to slap the player square in the face.

There will be a number of keepers who will be chomping at the bit to get a game for United and the list of candidates to replace Kenny is probably already being worked on. However, the point is that it is an issue that need not have come up and has only come up due to the stupidity of one person. I’m sure a lot of people now feel sorry for United and their fans.

England footballers are not a bad bunch, you know. Whilst we were all enthusing as the team beat lowly Andorra 6-0 at Wembley, a little known fact might have passed some of us by. Namely, the players were all donating their international fees to the Bobby Moore Fund. The England football team has been involved in an initiative to improve opportunities for young people for the last two years. Whilst we might see TV or newspaper coverage of the stars visiting sick children in a hospital or hospice, there’s little publicity for the more mundane side of their work.

Last season, Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves launched eleven projects revolving around poor housing, health, education, disabilities, high incidences of crime, racial and drug abuse. Six more have since been added, as well as extending the outreach programme for coaching to individuals and to clubs.

It was more than appropriate that the spotlight fell on the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK during the Andorra match. Before the kick-off, some of the more forgotten stars of England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad finally received their medals after a long campaign. At the time, only the players on the pitch during the final received the accolade.

Sadly, Sir Bobby Moore, who was England captain in 1966, could not be there. But his memory lives on and in the years since his death, more than 12 million pounds has been raised to back the campaign for research. England’s support should be applauded. With the team’s help and involvement, they can undoubtedly increase awareness of bowel cancer and bring in more vital cash. And this, ultimately, will save lives.

It’s a terrible statistic but 44 men and women die every day in the UK of bowel cancer. It is the second highest cause of cancer-related deaths in this country but, if caught early, eight out of ten cases can be successfully treated. Bobby’s widow, Stephanie says he would have been proud to be associated with the national team today.

“Our partnership with the England squad will make a huge difference. By working together, we can beat cancer,” she says. Well done to the England team for dedicating their match fees and their time and commitment to these charities. It means we can be as proud of them off the pitch as on it. *And if you would like to help, visit Bobby Moore Fund or Cancer Help.