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Football

12th Oct 2016

Some are calling for John Stones to be England captain after clean sheets against Malta and Slovenia

What about Hendo?

Simon Lloyd

Just in case you weren’t already aware, it’s been a thoroughly miserable few months for the England football team.

Sent packing from the Euros by a country with a population comparable to Wigan, Sam Allardyce was named as Roy Hodgson’s replacement. However, one high-profile undercover sting operation later, and Big Sam’s time as England boss was over before it had even started.

Enormously embarrassing and enough to make any fan of English football pine for the good old days of disappointing quarter final penalty shoot-out defeats to Portugal.

While the FA begin their search for a new permanent boss, Gareth Southgate oversaw World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia, deciding to drop England captain Wayne Rooney for the match in Ljubljana on Tuesday night.

With Rooney benched, Southgate decided that Jordan Henderson was most deserving of the armband – a decision that went down as well with some people as the Liverpool midfielder’s attempts to channel his inner Ronaldinho…

So, with Wayne Rooney’s future as England skipper looking bleak, and Jordan Henderson not everyone’s top choice to succeed the Manchester United man, who else is in the frame to take the England captaincy?

Well, according to some, his contribution to consecutive clean sheets against footballing superpowers Malta and Slovenia make John Stones a candidate.

The 22-year-old, who has impressed since moving to Manchester City in the summer, started both games under Southgate, who also worked with him during his time as England Under 21 manager.

https://twitter.com/fictiontwittson/status/785944570387365890

As is always the case with this sort of thing, not everyone agrees.

https://twitter.com/FalseFirmino/status/785562521302405120

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