Wednesday Mar 19 2008 08:00
Chelsea boss Avram Grant believes John Terry should retain the captain's armband under new England coach Fabio Capello.
Capello will name his squad for next week's international friendly with France on Thursday with plenty of speculation surrounding who will lead the side out at the Stade de France.
Liverpool's Steven Gerrard was named captain in Terry's absence for Capello's first match in charge against Switzerland in February.
Terry sat out the 2-1 victory at Wembley with a knee injury but is expected to be back in the squad for next Wednesday's friendly with France.
Reports have suggested Gerrard will remain as skipper, but Grant is adamant that his captain is still the right man to lead England.
Capello has vowed to name his full-time captain ahead of England's first World Cup 2010 qualifier against Andorra in September.
"England needs him more than he needs England," said Grant.
"Steven Gerrard is one of my favourite players, but I saw JT as a captain here.
"In football, there are good and bad days. You saw the leadership of JT when we needed him."
Meanwhile, Grant claims England would have reached the European Championship finals had Terry been available for the final qualifier which ended in a 3-2 defeat by Croatia in November.
"I don't see why we need to see differently in terms of the captaincy. You saw how they missed him against Croatia," he added.
"A captain like him you will not find every day. If he'd played against Croatia, England, in my opinion, would be in the European Championship.
"There were so many difficult moments in that game, and in those moments you see the leaders."
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