If you dig deep enough you could probably find anyone out.
Cole had made mistakes and doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the box but is the only england player in the last 10 years to be the best in the world in his position year after year.
The captain's armband has lost its prestige in recent years due to the amount its passed around due to "injury". Not sure how many temporary captains we have had in the last few years but Cole is as good as anyone to wear it.
He didn't want to do the press conference and fair enough in my book. He is a quiet guy and doesn't do many interviews he doesnt want to sit there and talk about how big his achievements are or how significant it is that he's overcome his off field silliness and how he's turned it around after being booed with the very journos that have stitched him up for years.
He's not that quiet when he's gobbing off about the FA on Twitter
Had Bobby Moore, Billy Wright etc been players in this day and age then there would have been accusations, scandals etc. No less than the current bunch.
George Best could go out and get hammered every night and womanize anything that moved but everyone finds that all so endearing just because it was from the 70s.
Had Bobby Moore, Billy Wright etc been players in this day and age then there would have been accusations, scandals etc. No less than the current bunch.
George Best could go out and get hammered every night and womanize anything that moved but everyone finds that all so endearing just because it was from the 70s.
How about nicking jewellery when on England duty in Columbia ?
The England captain is first and foremost the leader of a Football team. If he can do that via his on-pitch displays, then that'll do for me.
He is a very shy person from what I've heard people say, so I'm not surprised he doesn't want to do the press conference. After the way the media have battered him for so many years, he doesn't owe them anything.
If you look at players in the Charlton team....The likes of Chris Solly would probably be captain material in years to come, purely for his efforts on the pitch. I couldn't see him actually being very forthcoming with interviews, conferences etc.
But then again, any reason for some to knock England.
So you don't see players dictating what parts of the captains role they'll do as in anyway devalueing the honour then? I agree that on the pitch leadership comes first, that's a given. But as I understand it Lampard will be captain in all but name anyway and Cole has never been captain material at any time imo.
I understand you are younger than me and take an extremely supportive view of todays players in almost every case but you could try to understand that for many of us brought up with the likes of Moore, Keegan, Robson (and laterly Butcher and Adams) as captains it actually means something to us who leads our national team.
Those guys would run through walls for the job, Cole won't spend 30 mins with the press and Hodgson has handled it badly.
I'm not aware what the source is that Cole has said he doesn't want to do the press conference, but I get the impression that some are interpreting it to be a case of him demanding the captaincy and saying "I want to be captain, on my terms". It just doesn't sound likely to me. What is a more likely scenario is Cole being asked by Hodgson to be the captain and him responding "Yes, I would love to do it...Its a chance I don't want to pass up - but here's what I'm really not keen on and here's why...."
I agree that it's more than likely it's been offered to him to recognise his achievement in getting 100+ caps. Rather than accept it but with conditions attached why not just accept it with gratitude, put up with some tame questioning for a day or two and get on with it though? Have you never had to do anything you didn't want to at work?
well i am in the camp that captaincy should mean something in a team sport ,Cole isnt captaincy material ...if he wanted/wants to accept the honour then he should accept it unequivocally or not at all for the game to mark his 100th cap
The England captain is first and foremost the leader of a Football team. If he can do that via his on-pitch displays, then that'll do for me.
He is a very shy person from what I've heard people say, so I'm not surprised he doesn't want to do the press conference. After the way the media have battered him for so many years, he doesn't owe them anything.
If you look at players in the Charlton team....The likes of Chris Solly would probably be captain material in years to come, purely for his efforts on the pitch. I couldn't see him actually being very forthcoming with interviews, conferences etc.
But then again, any reason for some to knock England.
So you don't see players dictating what parts of the captains role they'll do as in anyway devalueing the honour then? I agree that on the pitch leadership comes first, that's a given. But as I understand it Lampard will be captain in all but name anyway and Cole has never been captain material at any time imo.
I understand you are younger than me and take an extremely supportive view of todays players in almost every case but you could try to understand that for many of us brought up with the likes of Moore, Keegan, Robson (and laterly Butcher and Adams) as captains it actually means something to us who leads our national team.
Those guys would run through walls for the job, Cole won't spend 30 mins with the press and Hodgson has handled it badly.
I'm not aware what the source is that Cole has said he doesn't want to do the press conference, but I get the impression that some are interpreting it to be a case of him demanding the captaincy and saying "I want to be captain, on my terms". It just doesn't sound likely to me. What is a more likely scenario is Cole being asked by Hodgson to be the captain and him responding "Yes, I would love to do it...Its a chance I don't want to pass up - but here's what I'm really not keen on and here's why...."
I agree that it's more than likely it's been offered to him to recognise his achievement in getting 100+ caps. Rather than accept it but with conditions attached why not just accept it with gratitude, put up with some tame questioning for a day or two and get on with it though? Have you never had to do anything you didn't want to at work?
Wanting to captain your country's football team is a completely different 'job' than speaking to the press who you already have a very poor relationship with. Hodgson and Cole clearly had a pretty mature conversation about it and Cole isn't doing a press conference. If England win the game, and Cole puts in a decent performance - why should anyone give a toss about the rest of the other nonsense? It's a one off game where he has the armband, its not as if he has become Prime Minister overnight!
All this talk of previous England captains turning in their graves is all a bit far fetched.
You're all missing the point that Cole has told Hodgson that he can't/won't give the traditional captains team talk to the squad prior to the game. This is his main problem apparently, closely followed by the media interviews/requirements. Words are not his friend, ie hes as thick as a bag of spanners/EDL activist.
Comments
Cole had made mistakes and doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the box but is the only england player in the last 10 years to be the best in the world in his position year after year.
The captain's armband has lost its prestige in recent years due to the amount its passed around due to "injury". Not sure how many temporary captains we have had in the last few years but Cole is as good as anyone to wear it.
amazon.co.uk/My-Defence-Winning-scandals-Germany/dp/0755315405/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369828941&sr=8-1&keywords=ashley+cole
George Best could go out and get hammered every night and womanize anything that moved but everyone finds that all so endearing just because it was from the 70s.
dont rate the manager
donte rate the squad
cant say i will watch the game or be arsed what the result is.
All this talk of previous England captains turning in their graves is all a bit far fetched.
According to his wikipedia page this will be his 102nd cap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Cole
Personally think the media are more bothered about this than the fans as Cole will not back down and talk to them.