Mark Davies says Capello would need a brave heart!

Episode 2 of the Scottish Comedy FC Podcast is out now. Subscribe/download/listen HERE

We’ve all had the conversation about winning the lottery and what you would do if it was you. One of the best parts of that conversation is how you would leave your job, personally as a cabbie I would have a day, maybe a week where not only wouldn’t I charge I would hand the customer either a fiver, tenner or if they are really nice a twenty. Obviously that depends on when I eventually sober up and if at that point I can bothered going out or whether I just reopen another bottle.

Well, as an Englishman, our manager Fabio Capello is currently in that position. He has stated since our exit from the 2010 World Cup that he intended to stand down after Euro 2012. So how could Capello leave his job and leave his mark?

This week has seen John Terry stripped of the captaincy and whether you agree with this or not it has already set an undertone that will start to ripple if Terry, as expected, is picked as part of the squad. My answer, don’t pick him. While your at it Mr Capello, don’t pick Ferdinand, Cole, Gerrard or Lampard either! So, who would I take and why? Here is my Euro 2012 squad.

Goalkeepers – Joe Hart, Scott Carson and Ben Foster

Defenders – Kyle Walker, Joleon Lescott, Leighton Baines, Michael Dawson, Ledley King, Micah Richards, Gary Cahill

Midfielders – Gareth Barry, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young, James Milner, Wayne Rooney, Adam Johnson

Forwards – Darren Bent, Jermaine Defoe, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck

A squad of young, mobile players that have little or no baggage (the press will always find something) a squad that would be hungry and would go into the tournament with no pressure on them as the nation would have little or no expectations. The older more experience squad members that I would omit have had numerous tournaments to get it right, umpteen opportunities that has resulted in the same old same old. Let’s freshen it up, let’s get back to playing the game with a smile on our faces and more importantly let’s get a squad that is prepared to listen to the manager who is getting paid a fortune and was getting dictated too by the players in South Africa. My starting 11 for the opening game v France would be,

Hart, Richards, King, Dawson, Walker, Parker, Barry, Walcott, Johnson, Rooney, Sturridge.

I would play 4-1-4-1 with Parker in front of the back-four and Rooney allowed to wander. I would make Scott Parker captain and throw them the ball and say “get out there and enjoy it”

If it all goes wrong and we go out in the group stages (Euro 2000) or the 2nd round (WC 2010, WC 1998) or the quarter finals (WC 2002, 2006) or we just don’t qualify (WC 1994, Euro 2008) then really what have we lost. If we stick with the old guard then the only way we can progress is if we win it, and we won’t! Even if we did win it then in the 2014 world cup a few of the old guard would have retired so we would then need to bring some of the fresh faces in anyway.

The manager has expressed publicly his disappointment in the stripping of the captaincy of John Terry and the FA have now said that he may be in contempt of contract!! So Fabio, if you’re reading this, do it, pick YOUR TEAM and stick two fingers upto the FA and the old guard. What’s the worst that could happen?

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About the Author

For as long as he can remember, Mark has loved football. Originally from just outside Manchester, he supports Bury FC so can’t be labelled as a glory hunter (although they do hold the record for the biggest FA Cup final winning margin, 6-0 in 1903 and it still stands today!).
Mark drives a cab, so automatically he “has an opinion and usually it’s the right one!” All opinions are the author’s own, and they can be heard on twitter @bigmarkdavies. You can contact Mark via email at bigmarkdavies@talktalk.net

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