Rio Ferdinand said yesterday that the England team resembled a circus until the arrival of Fabio Capello as manager in January, with more interest in discussing designer clothes than achieving success on the pitch. The Manchester United defender, who will captain England against Belarus in their World Cup qualifying match in Minsk this evening in the absence of the injured John Terry, conceded that the players became obsessed by their celebrity lifestyles to the detriment of their performances under Sven-Göran Eriksson and Steve McClaren.

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