England's Captains

Råsunda Stadion, Solna, Sweden, 6th of September, 1989 - Captain Terry Butcher, heart of the defence that held the opposition scoreless in the six qualifying matches for the 1990 World Cup finals, plays on despite a bloody head wound in the goalless draw against Sweden.

The Captains

Captains by Match

Pre-War Captains

Chronological Order	Names
Number of Matches	Points Percentage

Post-War Captains
 

Chronological Order	Names
Number of Matches	Points Percentage

Trivia

Notes on the Captaincy
The following notes are based on the knowledge that two captains in very early matches remain unknown.

England have been led by 107 captains in the 867 matches they have played since the first in 1872 (a total that includes the abandoned match against the Republic of Ireland on 15 February 1995, in which David Platt led the side, because caps were awarded although no official result was reached).  

The list is headed by the incomparable Billy Wright and Bobby Moore, who each led England 90 times, still a world record.  Wright served as captain in 70 consecutive England matches during the 1950's, an almost unbelievable record that was eventually broken by Heinz Hermann of Switzerland (71 captaincies in a row 1982-89), and then Andoni Zubizaretta of Spain.  A record that seemed unbreakable in an era in which the physical demands of the game are much higher and even the slightest injury keeps players costing millions of pounds out of action.  Bryan Robson, who led England 65 times, Wright and Moore are the only players to lead England more than 40 times.  Robson probably would have challenged the Wright/Moore record of 90 captaincies but for his relentlessly aggressive style of play, which led to several serious injuries reducing his international appearances.

The captaincy was not assigned to one player for an appreciable number of matches until professionalism began to take a grip on the national side in the 1880's and 1890's.  Before that it was merely regarded as an honour with ceremonial attributes to be passed around to deserving players, a concept that continued to carry weight into the inter-war era when the Football Association's International Selection Committee continued to choose the lineups and the captain.  Indeed, that notion has occasionally carried lingering force in modern times when players have been given the captaincy for a single match in recognition of long service or a milestone in career caps.  Thus David Seaman was made captain for the match marking his 50th cap, and Bobby Charlton led out the team for his 100th cap although the regular England captain at the time, Bobby Moore, was also in the lineup (albeit Charlton also captained England on two other occasions when Moore was absent.)  

But in the post-Second World War era, the captaincy generally has been assigned by the manager/coach to a single player who remained in that role until until his international careers waned or ended or until a new manager/coach brought in a new captain.  In modern times, the manager/coach usually also picks a vice-captain, who leads the team when the regular captain is absent through injury or suspension.  Michael Owen had led the team Sven-Göran Eriksson's first-choice captain, David Beckham, has been absent.  In the Steve McClaren era, Steven Gerrard deputised for John Terry.  As for the Capello era.....

While the England captaincy still is regarded as a great honour and carries the traditional ceremonial aspects--leading the players onto the pitch, introducing the players to match dignitaries, exchanging emblems with the visiting team's captain, attending the referee's coin toss which settles direction of play and which team kicks off at the beginning of a match--it involves much more than that.  The captain is expected to exercise leadership both on and off the pitch--to serve as a public spokesman for the team, to provide a communication link between the players and the staff, and to take charge of the team during a match, rallying and inspiring the team when it is down, exercising a calming influence when tempers are frayed, encouraging young players inexperienced at international level, correcting errant players and the like.  Still, England football captains generally do not have much influence on  team selection, formation or tactical decisions, although some of them have gained their manager's ear by dint of a long working relationship, most notably Bobby Moore under Alf Ramsey.

Only players who started a match as captain are recognised as official England captains.  Players who took over the captain's armband during a match when the starting captain had to leave the pitch because of injury or, in modern times, because of substitution are not listed as captains in the Football Association's official records.  In fact, it has said it does not even keep records of those temporary armband wearers.

We know of only two instances in which more than two players wore the captain's armband in the same match.  The first occasion was the scoreless draw against Morocco at  Estadio Tecnológico in Monterrey, Mexico on 6 June 1986.  Bryan Robson of Manchester United was the starting captain in this World Cup final tournament match.  He went off injured and the armband went to Ray Wilkins, then of AC Milan.  Wilkins was sent off soon after, and Peter Shilton of Southampton FC then took the armband.   

The second occasion was the 2-1 friendly match against Serbia and Montenegro at Walkers Stadium in Leicester on 3 June 2003, when four players wore the captain's armband, including three Liverpool players.  There was widespread dismay in the media and among some former England stars that three players deemed undeserving of the captaincy--Emile Heskey of Liverpool, Phil Neville of Manchester United and Jamie Carragher of Liverpool--were handed the captain's armband as a result of the spate of substitutions that followed the half-time retirement of Liverpool's Michael Owen, who had started the match as captain in the absence of regular captain David Beckham.  Only Owen will be listed as captain in the official match records, however.  The three who took over the armband were merely its temporary custodians.  While it is to be hoped this unfortunate situation will not reoccur, the three temporary wearers of the captain's armband are not entitled to official recognition as England captains, and hence the outrage was somewhat over the top.

Owen was the 104th official captain.  He first led the side in three preparatory friendly matches just before World Cup 2002 while Beckham recovered from a broken foot.  Owen captained England again in the season-opening friendly against Portugal on 7 September 2002, and in the pair of matches that ended the season, the friendly against Serbia and Montenegro on 3 June 2003 and the European Championship 2004 qualifier against Slovakia a week later. 

Steven Gerrard became the 105th official England captain on 31 March 2004, in a friendly celebrating Sweden's centenary.  It was in the absence of regular first choice captain, David Beckham, and second-choice captain, Michael Owen, who were both injured and unfit for this match.

John Terry was chosen by Steve McClaren as the 106th captain, following David Beckham's resignation, with Steve Gerrard on stand-by should Terry be unfit to play.  It was Steven Gerrard who became Fabio Capello's first captain in his first match in charge.  Capello announced that John Terry too, would be his official captain in September 2008.  Rio Ferdinand had already become England's 107th known official captain in Capello's search for a captain.

_________________

Many thanks to Cris Freddi, for keeping the Captain's section in fantastic order.

PY/CG