Gerrard would relish captaincy - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Gerrard would relish captaincy

Steven Gerrard admits he would love to be England captain as new manager Fabio Capello prepares to announce his first squad for next month's game against Switzerland.

Former boss Steve McClaren installed John Terry as skipper but the Chelsea defender is by no means assured of retaining the captaincy and Gerrard would be a popular choice to lead the national team.

The Liverpool star said: "If the manager comes and asks you 'do you want to be captain?' then you say 'yes of course'. But I don't want to put my name forward because we have our leader in John Terry and we have to show some respect."

He added: "Every England player wants to captain his country. But John is our captain at the moment and that hasn't changed as yet.

"So, we have to wait and see what the new manager decides."

Gerrard believes England have underachieved in recent years, illustrated by their failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

McClaren lost his job as a result and Gerrard is now looking forward to starting afresh under Capello, despite the Italian's fearsome reputation for discipline.

"I'm just looking forward to the new regime and looking forward to getting back to winning in an England shirt because it has been a difficult time of late and we have certainly underachieved.

"There is an excitement there and obviously I'm hoping to be involved. I'm desperate to be part of the England team going forward because I do believe there are big things we can achieve with this team and with this manager.

"Us players have got to adapt to that (his reputation for discipline). He's the boss now so we have to do what he says. If he wants to change things we've got to do it."

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