Rooney to continue as England captain

Wayne Rooney will continue as England captain, manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed.

Rooney was appointed captain by Roy Hodgson in 2014 and wore the armband during Euro 2016. However, he came in for heavy criticism in the wake of England's last-16 exit at the hands of Iceland.

Allardyce had initially refused to confirm whether Rooney would retain the captaincy but ahead of Sunday's opening 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovakia the Three Lions manager has revealed it was an 'easy decision' to ask the Manchester United skipper to continue in the role.

"Wayne has been an excellent captain for England and the manner in which he has fulfilled the role made it an easy decision for me to ask him to continue," Allardyce said.

"Wayne's record speaks for itself, he is the most senior member of the squad and he is hugely respected by his peers. All of these factors point towards him being the right choice to lead the team."

Rooney has enjoyed a strong start to the season under Jose Mourinho and Allardyce is confident he can handle the responsibility of leading his country into the World Cup campaign.

"I like an on-and-off-the-field captain if there is one, but if there isn't one then being an on-the-field captain is the main basis," Allardyce said.

"You would hope the captain would make a decision on the pitch if he felt it needed to (be made). For me, that's the captain's role. It's a big responsibility at club level and even more so at international level. First and foremost lead by example.

"It's all about the personality. Can you handle the responsibility of being captain? We've seen some fabulous players in cricket who couldn't handle the captaincy.

"That's the last thing you want to do, name a captain and they be so uncomfortable with it their performance is diminished. We've seen that in cricket a few times."

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