Barry laughs off England captaincy talk
by Tom Kell, 26 March 2008
Gareth Barry refuses to get above his station after murmurings linking him with the England captaincy, insisting he has enough on his plate trying to force his way into Fabio Capello’s first-team plans.
Capello continues to hold open auditions for the job, with Barry one of the mooted candidates in the lead up to Wednesday night’s friendly with France.
Rio Ferdinand has been given the armband for the trip to Paris and Barry admits he was never pinning his hopes on being given the nod.
"It was a big surprise and the lads had a bit of a laugh and a joke about it,” the Aston Villa skipper told the Birmingham Post. “Other than that, I'm not too bothered.
"It was just a bit of banter. You read something in the newspaper that no-one is expecting to be in there. It was bound to be a bit of a surprise and I suppose it is a bit of a compliment even to be mentioned.
"Everybody's still looking to impress and I'm no different. Anybody asked to captain their country wouldn't turn it down."
International duty takes priority at a crucial juncture in the domestic season, but Barry will not take his eye off the ball when he returns to the West Midlands to start preparations for Villa’s trip to Manchester United on Saturday teatime – a game being shown live on Setanta Sports.
"Playing for England is never really a hindrance,” he added. "I'll go away and concentrate on that then come back and start thinking about Manchester United on Thursday morning because the team needs to pick itself up.
"I'm sure the manager will be thinking hard about that over the next couple of days."