South Africa World Cup news: Ferguson delighted at Rio Ferdinand's England captaincy

08/02/2010

Sir Alex Ferguson has welcomed the move to make Rio Ferdinand England captain ahead of the South Africa World Cup.

Ferdinand was unveiled as the next player to wear the armband following a meeting between previous incumbent John Terry and England boss Fabio Capello on February 5th 2010, in which the Chelsea centre-half was sacked from the role.

And Manchester United manager Ferguson has expressed his delight at Ferdinand's success, pointing out that he follows in the footsteps of previous and current greats like Gary Neville, Sir Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson to lead the national side.

"We are pleased for him and it's great for Manchester United to have one of our players captaining our country," Sir Alex told the Manchester Evening News.

Ferdinand missed the February 7th 5-0 demolition of Premiership strugglers Portsmouth through suspension, a game in which Wayne Rooney reasserted his current strong form by opening the scoring.

Posted by Oliver Jakes