After an ignominious end to his World Cup campaign due to injury before the penalty shoot out defeat against Portugal, David Beckham has now announced that he is relinquishing the role of England captain in preparation for the installation of new coach Steve McLaren.

Beckham told the press conference:

“I feel the time is right to pass on the armband as we enter a new era under new coach Steve McClaren.”

Whether this means the end of the Real Madrid man’s England career is doubtful although the player himself has said he has no intention of retiring from international football at this time. As McLaren has essentially been the main man behind the England setup all along under Sven Goran Eriksson it would be a huge surprise to see the influential former skipper excluded.

After a disappointing tournament a change of the old guard might just be what England needs though as they now look ahead to the European Championships in two years time. Aaron Lennon provided pace, skill and excitement down the right hand side after replacing the injured Beckham and for an English public more used to the long ball sprayin, pedestrian style of their Golden Balls captain it may have been a real glimpse of the future.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 2nd, 2006 at 10:37 am and is filed under International Football - England. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.