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Gordon Banks backs Terry for England captain

25/07/2008

Chelsea skipper John Terry should be made permanent national team captain by manager Fabio Capello, according to former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks.

The World Cup-winning goalkeeper believes Terry's motivational abilities and his forceful style of play make him the perfect candidate to continue in the role after he was installed as David Beckham's successor by Steve McClaren.

Speaking at the launch of the new Football Pools, Banks said he would select Terry to wear the armband ahead of either of the other main candidates Steven Gerrard or Rio Ferdinand.

"It's John Terry for me," Banks told inthenews.co.uk.

"If he's playing well enough and he gets in there then he should be made England captain.

"You can see he lifts people, if people aren't doing their job right he'll give them a bit of a boost, a bit of motivation.

"He dominates his own area of the field. He does his job, he's assured and I think that's important. He's the best candidate."

Banks said that while he believes Gerrard is a top-quality player in his own right he is "too quiet" on the field to be given the captaincy.

And he added: "Ferdinand is not like Terry either. He's quite like Gerrard - he doesn't like to dominate, he doesn't really have the same presence that Terry does."

Although supporting the Blues skipper's big for the armband under Capello, Banks believes Terry must first prove he has the discipline to act as a role model to the other players.

The Italian tactician has previously spoken of his desire to have someone who leads by example, on and off the field, with his behaviour as well as his play.

And Banks was critical of previous incidents involving Terry where he has been seen intimidating referees and other officials.

"He can get in trouble with the referees and it also unsettles his own players," the legendary shot-stopper added.

"If he starts doing that as captain it means his own players think 'oh, that's ok'. Then they get booked, or sent off or start doing something silly.

"I'd like to see that controlled a bit more."

Capello is expected to make a decision on his permanent captain in the next few weeks as the build-up begins ahead of the first match of England's qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup against Andorra on September 6th.