Parker heavily backed to take over England captaincy from Terry
Published:Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Scott Parker is the fans’ favourite to take over the England captaincy from John Terry – at least according to where all the money has been going.
Terry was stripped of the captaincy on Friday morning after the decision was taken to adjourn his trial for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand until July 9 – after the European championships.
Steven Gerrard was installed as the initial favourite following the announcement and remains the shortest priced player at 4/7 to lead the team out against France in England’s first Euro 2012 game.
However, since the announcement was made regarding Terry’s removal as captain, there has only been one name on everybody’s lips – Scott Parker.
The 31-year-old was trending Twitter all day Friday and the calls for the defensive midfielder to be made captain have been growing steadily louder.
He has been cut from an initial 10/1 to 7/2 and could be well worth backing to take the armband – if Fabio Capello sees him as a regular starter for the Three Lions.
And therein lies the major problem with Parker taking over the captaincy.
The player who takes on the job will need to be a guaranteed starter for Capello and, with the likes of Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry and James Milner all vying for a place in the England starting XI, Capello may prefer to go with someone else.
Parker has been brilliant for Spurs this season though and was named man of the match in England’s 1-0 friendly win against Spain.
He hasn’t quite made the defensive midfield position his own just yet but, if he continues his good club form, then he may be well worth backing at 7/2 to wear the armband against France.
