Henderson deserves to be England captain but I hope he doesn’t get it
By David Gate
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson deserves to have the England captaincy but I hope for our sake he doesn’t get the job.
It’s the dream of every young boy to captain England at the World Cup. At least that’s how the cliché goes. There was a time when that was true, but things have changed. Decades of underperforming and mismanagement have marred the prestige of the national side.
England are currently placed 13th in the FIFA rankings. And that feels generous. They have not looked dangerous at an international tournament since 2006 and are currently 20/1 to win the tournament next year. Portugal are 25/1 – that’s a much better bet.
Jordan Henderson holds a strange place in the minds of the Liverpool fanbase. If you read Twitter during our games you are guaranteed to see a thousand ‘FFS Hendo‘ tweets every time he misses a pass.
Many Liverpool fans use Henderson as a litmus test to see if you really understand football. If you rate him, you know what you’re talking about. If you don’t rate him then maybe you don’t understand how a game of football works or how you win one.
Other team’s fans think he’s awful and give him stick for being ‘bang average’. That criticism will only be magnified if he is England captain on a permanent basis. I don’t want him to have to deal with that.
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I want his mind clear and his shoulders unburdened as he leads Liverpool to something far more important than a Round 16 exit to Croatia in Russia next year; winning the Premier League for Liverpool.
He deserves to be England captain. He is the best midfielder and the most natural leader. I just wish he could have the honor without all the other bullshit that comes with it. They should just give to good old ‘Arry Kane. The tabloids won’t hammer Kane and Paul Merson will be happy. England can wait.