So JT is out and Rio is in; under pressure from the FA to dismiss a captain whose off-field shenanigans have brought shame to the England captaincy, Fabio Capello has acted. The Italian coach yet again displayed rational, calm and decisive leadership, dealing with Terry in less than 15 minutes on Friday. Either that or he was so relaxed about the whole Terry-Bridge affair because he didn’t really care about it in the first place. His apparent failure to let Rio know he was getting Terry’s old job suggests as much, as does the fact that he chose the Manchester United man to take over the role. If Capello was interested in restoring the dignity of the England captaincy, he surely wouldn’t have given it to Ferdinand.

The manager must be aware of the events that led to his eight months out of the game in 2004 and after a few years in the job, probably of a few other things that aren’t public knowledge. Even knowing all that though wasn’t enough to prevent him from giving the captaincy to a man whose forgetfulness (if we’re being very kind) caused him to miss a major tournament for England. What possible reason could the FA and Capello have for giving Ferdinand the job? It doesn’t make much sense until you realise that as captain, with all the extra media and sponsorship duties that come with the job, there’s no way Rio will have enough time to record another series of his infamous ‘World Cup Wind Ups’.

It would’ve been worth making him manager to avoid more of this crap, no matter how unintentionally hilarious it is. When it comes to undermining respect for England’s captain, a thousand sordid stories about John Terry’s personal life couldn’t come near to the sight of Rio in a leather waistcoat and what looks like a pair of pink girls’ flip-flops.