Rio gives Beckham support

Updated 14.49 Sun Jun 01 2008

Rio Ferdinand believes David Beckham is a contender to become England's permanent captain once again.

England boss Fabio Capello will name a permanent captain later this year and Beckham was the surprise choice to lead the team in the friendly against Trinidad & Tobago.

"I am sure he is in the running" - Rio Ferdinand

Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry have all been tried in the role and Ferdinand believes Beckham has the credentials to take the job, even though he decided to step down as skipper in 2006.

Ferdinand said: "The manager made it quite clear he was going to give it to people and see how they dealt with it and then he'd make his decision.

"So if David's got it for this game then I'm sure he's in the running, so good luck to him.

"I've made it plain and clear that I'd like the job full-time, but having said that the players who have had it recently have all been singing from the same hymn sheet by saying we want to be captain and it would be a great honour."

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