Steven Gerrard

Right decision no doubt and to be fair I think he always had a raw deal with England.Firstly he had to play dozens of games with an inferior partner who did nothing but get in his way as Gerrard was the better more intelligent player he was the one who had to adapt.He then rightly got the captains gig a few years too late and was totally undermined by John Terry at South Africa 2010.

Stevie Me was a very good England player but not a great IMO thanks to two selfish Chelsea ***ts. I see Lampard who pushed Lambert out of the way to take a free kick still hasn`t had the grace to officially retire from International football.

I thought Gerrard had a seaon or two where he was more or less genuinely world class.
His leadership in the CL Final v AC Milan is the stuff of legends.

I'm glad he's quit playing for England as I think/hope we can find a more effective player.Gerrards not all that at that level these days.

As for the next England Captain,well we don't seem to have any personalities or leaders.

From what I saw of us in Brazil I would be tempted to select Captain Lallana.

For me the best player England have had since Gazza.

All round player who could literally do it all on a football pitch.

Time is right for him to step down, but he will be a big miss.

Next captain, I would imagine it will go to Wayne. Wouldn't be my choice to be honest, but I think he will get it.

I would of given it to Wilshere a couple of seasons ago, but he really needs to step his game up, if Arsenal get Khederia, will Wheelchair even get a game? His injuries may of cost him big!

I don't think Rooney is the right person to captain, at any level, he doesn't come across as someone who will gee the players up, but then again, no-one does for England! I would give it to someone young, maybe Hart? I like the idea of Lallana though.

And the overreaction award goes to.....

But is it an overreaction, steve? Personally I think not.

The mere fact that someone, somewhere has linked this players name with the England captaincy shows how far standards have fallen. And the same goes for Wayne Rooney et al as well. Ignoring his footballing abilities does anyone seriously think that Jack Wilshere (or Wayne Rooney for that matter) has sufficient gravitas to fill the position. But then again it seems to me that the whole structure of the England national team is in decline.

Going back a season or two, you could have picked quite a number of potential captains from the England squad, but sadly that is no longer the case. It's probably something to do with the grossly inflated wages paid to Premiership (and the lower League players) footballers. But the fact remains that England is represented by a bunch of players who have little (or no) pride in the country that they are representing. It sounds a little reminiscent to me of BRFC.

If only we had the collective pride of (for instance) the USA, then we might do a little better.

I agree with some of that but surely it cuts both ways.  The ludicrous OTT expectations that fans and media exert on the English team and players is ridiculous at times.  I'm not surprised some think 'I can't be arsed with this'.  You can play for a club, get paid potloads of cash and be guaranteed adoration by the supporters yet when you play for England if you put a single foot wrong or have one bad performance or play for a team that does badly you get a bucket of abuse heaped on you from all sides.

So it's not just players who have it wrong I think - it's the whole shebang.  Not least the delusional view that England is a big team in World football terms - history doesn't really back that up.  We won a World Cup at home thanks to some questionable refereeing and with the side that won the 3 World Cups either side of 66 literally kicked out of the tournament.  We did a decent job of defending it in 70 with a veteran team.  In 1990 we had an unlikely run that no one saw coming, rode a wave and were slightly unlucky to go out in the Semi's but we still didn't really beat a genuine contender in that tournament.  In 96 we got to the Semi-Finals of the Euros at home (our record in the Euros is truly embarrassing really - only other time we made the Semi's was 68 and it wasn't really a significant tournament back then - for a team that thinks of itself as a major European power to rack up only 2 Semi-Final appearance in it's home tournament is appalling).  With the exception of 66 none of those would be standout tournaments in the history of any other major football power anyway - they'd probably barely remember them.  The rest of the time (both after and pre) we've been mediocre-total cack yet we cling on to the idea that we're at football's top table in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Viewed from the perspective of the history of English football the Sven era looks a relatively successful period - consistant Quarter Final appearances where we lose to the first decent team we've played; that's admirable consistant mediocrity.  If you exclude 66 we have never beaten a major nation in the knockout stages of proper international tournament with the exception of Spain in 96 who were not exactly in great shape themselves and who we beat on penalties.  The list of great English wins on the football field is pretty short.  Only England would still cling on to Beckaham's free kick against Greece as some kind of fantastic memory - when really it was another near miss on total failure.

Our claim to be a major nation is pretty weak.  Mediocrity and underachievement has always been the default position of English football - it's nothing new, strecthes right back to the first World Cup we played in when Matthews, Finney et al were embarrassed by a bunch of US college kids.  Virtually every modern player moans about how unpleasant it is to play for England and the crap you have to put up with.  Boo-ho didums we can fairly say but it does suggest that any connection has been well and truly lost on poor attitudes from players, a head hunting culture among fans and the media and unrealistic expectations.

Don't mince your words longjohn, tell us what you really think.