But Rooney would be gratified to hear his manager’s response when asked who his best captain had been in club football.
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Wayne Rooney will continue to lead England under Sam Allardyce but says the 2018 World Cup will be his last worldwide campaign.
Rooney, who will be 31 in October, has played in the finals of six tournaments – three World Cups and three European Championships – and never been past the quarter-finals. “He is the most senior member of the squad and is hugely respected by his peers”.
Though Allardyce declined to make the announcement at the start of his tenure as manager, that is not to say it was a call he was wrestling with.
He added: “It’s always nice to captain your country and I’m looking forward to this new regime”. First and foremost, lead by example. Can you handle the responsibility of being captain?
“Since then and on holiday and back at Manchester United I have not had much to think about”.
He said: ‘Joe has been in a hard situation and knowing him like I do he wants to play and so he has gone somewhere where he can do that.
Allardyce was appointed after England crashed out of Euro 2016 at the round-of-16 stage, having suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Iceland.
Antonio does not see himself as the emotional type but was nearly moved to tears when two members of West Ham’s backroom staff informed him he had made the cut for Allardyce’s first squad in the aftermath of his goalscoring turn in Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Manchester City. We’ve seen a lot of teams overachieve with him as manager.
“We want to have two players in each position and not leave ourselves short”.
“It’s early days in the camp – we’ve only been here a day”.
“I said before the Euros I enjoyed playing in this team, and that’s the case still”.
“It has been very emotional, especially when I found out”, he said.
The 30-year-old said: ‘I will have a year left at United then (in 2018, when he intends to retire from worldwide football).
“He sorted the odd scuffle out in the dressing room and talked to the players about how we had to go out and win”, Allardyce told reporters at the St George’s Park football centre in Burton, central England.
It was confirmed yesterday that the 30-year-old would remain as captain of the national side under new boss Sam Allardyce.
England’s record goalscorer revealed he aims to lead the Three Lions after he retires from the game. We have bad memories from the last game obviously. That is also when Allardyce’s contract runs to. “If Jack Wilshere was playing every week for Arsenal he would be in the squad”.
Here, Press Association Sport’s Tom White reviews Rooney’s worldwide career in numbers.
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“On and off the field, Jay Jay was the captain you looked for”, Allardyce said. “I’m just trying to get them done why I’m still playing really”.
