John Terry is the red-hot favourite to take over the England captaincy, bookmakers said on Monday, after David Beckham quit the role in the wake of his side’s disappointing World Cup campaign.
Terry (25), who skippered Chelsea to a second straight English Premiership title last season, is so far ahead in the betting that some bookmakers have stopped taking bets on the England captaincy.
Beckham (31) resigned as captain on Sunday following England’s World Cup ousting by Portugal in a quarterfinal penalty shootout, and he struggled to control his emotions in making the announcement.
Bookmaker William Hill has closed the book on the position after 95% of the bets they took were placed on battling centre-half Terry, whose never-say-die attitude has made him a fan’s favourite at Chelsea.
”We were finding it difficult to make a market because people only wanted to back Terry,” William Hill spokesperson Graham Sharpe told Agence France-Presse.
”My information is that it’s probably his to turn down and you’d be surprised if he did.”
Terry was their 1/2 favourite, followed by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard at 11/4, Frank Lampard and Gary Neville at 8/1 and Rio Ferdinand at 16/1.
Beckham was appointed England captain by caretaker manager Peter Taylor in 2000 and Sven-Goran Eriksson kept him on when he became the England boss.
Terry wore the captain’s armband during England’s World Cup second round 1-0 win over Ecuador after goal scorer Beckham was substituted.
”We were unable to take any serious money for any other candidate, so have decided to close the book, at least temporarily — although we are still happy to take bets for Wayne Rooney, who is a 33/1 shot,” Sharpe added.
”It is interesting that when he was appointed, Beckham was at 33/1 — not many people expected him to get the nod when he did,” Sharpe said.
”But you’d think it’s unlikely that at this stage in his career, Rooney would be asked to take the captain’s armband” mostly due to his fiery temperament, he said.
”Plus he plays in attack whereas Beckham is at least a midfielder and so can get a view of what is going on all over the pitch.”
Bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral both had had Terry at 1/4 for the captaincy, Gerrard 7/2, Neville 12/1 and Lampard 16/1. Ferdinand came next, and Ladbrokes quoted Rooney at 100/1.
England’s latest penalty shootout failure was their fifth in six attempts in tournament football.
Only Owen Hargreaves managed to score his spot-kick, with Lampard, Gerrard and Jamie Carragher adding to England’s list of penalty shootout flops that started with Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle in the 1990 World Cup.
William Hill makes England 2/1 to miss their next competitive penalty — and installed Lampard as 4/5 favourite to take it. Hargreaves is the 7/2 second favourite. — AFP
