Capello explained: ‘I was upset about the armband being passed around against Denmark. Who is the captain? Where is the armband? I do not like that. That was not a good moment for John Terry, either.

‘I did not expect to talk about the captaincy so much when I took the job, but I understand now it is really important in England. I took my decision after what I saw against Denmark, because it made me understand the value of the captain and the armband in England.

‘I didn’t like to see it going around the pitch. Until then, I had always had captains one, two, three, but then it was, “I’m captain, then I’m captain”. Now I will make it clear. I will decide.’

Capello is concerned about alienating his senior players and wishes to speak to all sides before revealing his decision, but his intentions were hard to disguise, particularly when referring to Ferdinand as  captain in the past tense.

Indeed, his task in Manchester may first be to placate the United defender, who is known to be angry at the thought of losing the England captaincy having done nothing wrong. Last night, friends close to Ferdinand suggested he may decide to retire from international football, although Capello hopes this is not the case.

Ferdinand’s weakness, however, is that he has played for his country just four times in 11 games since getting the job.
Capello added: ‘Rio is captain now and I am not saying he is not a good captain. He was a fantastic captain. He is an important player, too.

‘First of all I want to know whether he will be fit. Then I will talk to him about what I will do with John Terry and whether I will make a new captain. I will explain what happened in Denmark, what I thought about that.

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