Fabio Capello, the new England manager, has chosen Steven Gerrard to captain the side in tomorrow night’s friendly against Switzerland at Wembley.
Gerrard will take up the role until Capello has made a decision on a permanent captain with John Terry, who had been appointed by predecessor Steve McClaren, currently injured.
“Steven is important for all the players because he can transmit things and pass on things and inspire players,” Capello said during a chaotic press conference at London Colney today
“He’s not going to be our permanent captain - I’m not going to name the permanent captain before the Andorra match.”
England are due to kick off their World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign with a match against Andorra on September 6 and Capello may experiment with different captains before that date.
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Capello revealed that he told his players of the decision before announcing it to the media and plans to inform the players of his team selection for Wednesday at the hotel before they leave for the match.
Speaking through an interpreter, Capello was relutant to discuss his decision not to select David Beckham for the squad, saying: “The most important thing is to talk about the players who will play tomorrow not the ones who will not play.”
The Italian also confirmed that he has laid down some rules to his squad. He said: “We need to create a way of working, and that’s why I felt the need to set some rules. For example, we will all eat together, leave the table together - it is all about respecting each other. And being punctual is key.
“We all have a role to play - they are the players and I am the manager.”
Capello expressed his surprise that his imposition of certain rules has created such a stir among the media. “If people are amazed at having these rules then presumably they were not used to them,” he said. “We all have rules to follow in our job and I believe we have got to have rules and respect them - all of us.”
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The manager was asked what would happen should any of the players break the rules.
“I can’t see why they shouldn’t respect the rules,” he added. “Obviously people make mistakes but if you want to be part of a group you have to follow the rules of a group. We will analyse and see why these rules have been broken and take the appropriate course of action.”
The coach had famously insisted he would learn the language of his adopted country within a month having been appointed but although happy to speak to the players in English on the training ground, facing the media was a different prospect as he did not want to be misunderstood.
“With the players I can explain and communicate in a much easier way. I am happy about my English,” he said. “Being the England manager is something really important in football. I always feel emotions because I am emotionally involved in this and I am 100 per cent behind this project.
“Obviously, when we get to Wembley I will be a bit nervous but when the game starts I will be 100 per cent focused. I believe Switzerland are a good team. They have good players and they are very dangerous on the counter.”