The skipper circus goes on!

Barry is a yawn, so is the saga over the captaincy

After the farcical second coronation of John Terry as England captain, we're now presented with the seventh recipient of the Fabio Capello armband - the utterly uninspirational, Gareth Barry.

The rotund elder statesman will lead out a team expected to show eight changes from the Euro 2012 qualifier in Wales, for the Wembley friendly with Ghana.

The Manchester City millionaire has the most caps of the player's left, ergo he's the skipper despite not being considered good enough for the eighteen-man squad for Cardiff just two days before.

All this announced amid the organised media glare of an England news conference as Fabio admitted he hadn't yet had that private discussion with Rio Ferdinand as to why he wasn't going to lead the team out for Ghana.

He won't need to now. The message has reached Alderley Edge loud and clear!

The hullabaloo over who's England skipper is unnecessary theatre and a total distraction from the real affairs of the team. It also makes Fabio look like a dithering lame duck, just lucky to be presiding over a bunch of meaningless friendlies and a schedule of complete mismatches to qualify for Euro 2012.



Still, it's reported that 20,000 fans at Wembley will be from Ghana, so at least there'll be carnival and colour brought to a game which Gareth Barry's leadership rather confirms as stale.

But perhaps the booing won't just be consigned to our eleven players. To add insult to lethargy, the FA have invited Sepp Blatter as their special guest, just months after he snubbed England's bid to host the World Cup.

We will win World Cup without Walcott

Fancy making the squad at 16 without a first team appearance to his name, then missing out having hit a hattrick as a full international! Soccermongery reports on Fabio's Ins and Outs as he names our World Cup 23.

So Capello's left Theo and Darren Bent out of his squad for South Africa, with Gareth Barry recovering enough from injury to make the squad. Matthew Upson's got in despite Michael Dawson's excellent season and Tom Huddlestone got all excited ... in vain!

Stephen Warnock gets the nod ahead of Leighton Baines and Emile Heskey's inclusion gives every man under the age of 45 the hope he might still be invited to train with Capello's squad. You'd have got lofty prices at the bookies on Carragher and King getting called up - even a couple of months ago, but the pair of veterans have made it.

But in an astonishing about-face, it's Walcott, an untried teenager without a Gunners game to his name four years ago, who'll be watching the telly like you and me!

Now, as a Premier League and Champions League star, hitting a hattrick in Croatia, so laying the ghost of Wembley to rest, the Gunners winger is dumped in favour of Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Many will say on form, the Tottenham and Manchester City players are worthy of their places ahead of Walcott, dogged by injury and loss of form this season.

But for my money, Walcott is a special player capable of brilliance - and worth inclusion.

But I'm not England manager, that bloke from Italy is.... Forza Inghilterra!

Click here: Robocrouch dances off to South Africa.

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Gareth Barry's sale a win win win situation

It's rare when all three parties (I exclude pesky agents) are equal partners in benefiting from a transfer.

Sometimes the selling club are forced into it, sometimes the player reluctantly moves on, sometimes the buying club pays too much (and to his agent.)

But Gareth Barry's £12million switch from Aston Villa to Manchester City is a win-win-win for all concerned.

He was a year away from leaving on a Bosman, so Villa sold at more than his market value. The threat of renewed interest from Liverpool and Arsenal inflated the price - and City didn't hang around. His was the first transfer of the close-season.

Villa need to freshen things up. Although Barry was among Villa's best players (for a decade), Martin O'Neill needs a different kind of team built around the qualities of Young, Agbonlahor, Milner and Petrov. Sixth place for a second successive season suggests that.

It's also a great signing for City as they continue their evolution. Okay, Abu Dhabi Babby might shed loadsamoney in pursuit of a hurried rise up the table, but Barry will give them a range of passing and midfield fluency they didn't have last season. £12million's a lot - but Barry is a fine player.

And it's great for Gareth. He gets the payday he deserves and a new challenge. He doesn't get the Champions League berth he hoped for because if City ever qualified for it, Barry would be a squad member as quick as you can say "Eto'o, Puyol and Tevez sign!"

But he gets a regular high-profile role in World Cup year. A player of his quality deserves England recognition at the highest level.

As a Villa fan, I thank Gareth Barry for his twelve years at Villa Park and wish him luck at Eastlands.

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