Sol Campbell's Race Allegation Denied By Taylor

It's unfortunate that in the 21st century, we are still discussing the matter of race. However this is a delicate subject, so we are not going to go into too much detail, however as this is a big story at the minute we need to give people the opportunity to discuss it.

Sol Campbell has recently made the claim that has he been white, he would have captained the England team for 10 years. Which is quite a bold statement. Especially considering the fact that Tom Ince became the first black captain in England's history in 1992.

Former England manager Graham Taylor has come out in defense of the England set-up and rejected Sol Campbell's accusations as completely false stating:

He told BBC Radio 5 live: "It never had any influence on me to select who should be captain, regardless of the colour of his skin."

"I gave Paul Ince the captaincy when Stuart Pearce was injured," he said.

"No one from the Football Association ever gave me an impression that I shouldn't have given the captaincy to him. There was none of that in my managerial career."

The cynic in me is looking at the fact this has all come out while Campbell is trying to promote his book, a book that maybe only Arsenal fans would be dying to read. The fact that he has brought race into the equation so long after he retired is an interesting one. You have to look at it logically, and when I looked into the England captaincy, I couldn't help but come to the same conclusion that John Barnes came to, Barnes of course is one of the most famous players in English history and was among some of the first black players to represent England:

Former England winger John Barnes also rejected Campbell's claim, telling 5 live: "I don't think Sol would have been captain for 10 years because if you look at who the captains were - Tony Adams and then after that Alan Shearer.

"Then David Beckham became captain and that was a PR exercise for the FA. I don't think necessarily it was because of the colour of Sol's skin."

I really just don't see as there is anything in this, Sol was a good player but the likes of Adams and Shearer deserved the armband. The fact that Sol touched upon Michael Own being captain as a clear sign it was racial is in itself a little embarrasing. He was never a long term captain, a fill-in for a player who had a distinguished England career. Owen of course only captained England 9 times, Sol Campbell has captained England 3 times, so 1/3 of Owen's time.

Campbell played for England for 11 years between 1996-2007 and captained the squad three times. Frank Lampard has played for England for 15 years so far, between 1999-Present and has captained England just 3 times. He has domestic experiencing as captain and he deserved the captaincy just as much as Sol, but why has he been denied it aside from 3 occasions? Quite simply, there have been better options. Alan Shearer captained England between 1992-2000 then David Beckham largely took over until 2009.

Sorry Sol, logically I just don't think you have a leg to stand on here.