Micah Richards column

By Micah Richards
Manchester City and England defender

I was quite surprised when Fabio Capello was named the new England manager last week, but only by the timing of the announcement.

I thought the Football Association would leave it a while before appointing somebody, because we don't have any competitive games for a few months.

But it's a positive thing that something has been done early and he has a few months to bed down now before the World Cup qualifiers begin in the autumn.

Richards has won 11 England caps, all under previous boss Steve McClaren

It is a good appointment for England and a fresh start for all of us - not just for Capello, or the players who were in the last England squad, but for everybody in the league who is English.

They can give it a go and may feel that they have a chance to get in.

Everyone is waiting for his first squad ahead of the friendly with Switzerland on 6 February and I don't know whether he will pick players on how they have done in the past or how they are doing at the moment.

It will be interesting to find out what happens!

Like everybody else, I am playing for my England place now.

And it will be hard for me as well because I am playing centre-half for Manchester City and at right-back for England - so it is difficult to say what will happen. I will have to wait and see where I play, and if I play, under Capello.

I don't know much about him apart from he is a big name in football and that his managerial record speaks for itself.

I have been told he is a big believer in sports psychology and getting players' mental preparation right.

Is that important? Well, with what he is bringing to the table, it must be. You don't win the things he has won without doing something different.

For me, it will be nice to meet him and see what ideas he has got.

I am sure he will be at a game that I am playing in sooner or later and that will be a chance for me to try to impress him.

It will be nice if he does come to watch and, if he does, I will just play my normal game. If he likes me, great, but, if not, I will keep working hard and try to win a place again.

There should be an English presence in the England set-up - I don't think Capello speaks the best English so he is going to need somebody who can let the boys know what he wants them to do

It's not something I am afraid of it, it is a fresh challenge and should be good for me.

Again, a few people have made a big thing out of him being a foreigner but I have always said that shouldn't matter.

As long as you can communicate with somebody, and you have respect for them, then it doesn't matter where they are from.

I do think there should be an English presence in the England set-up though - I don't think Capello speaks the best English so he is going to need somebody who can let the boys know what he wants them to do.

He has brought four Italians with him in his backroom team but that doesn't make any difference to me either. I am used to working with foreign coaches at City and so are a lot of the other England players at their clubs.

There are a lot of good candidates when it comes to having an English presence and I don't want to say who should be picked, but Stuart Pearce's name has been mentioned and he is obviously someone I have worked with when he was City manager.

606: DEBATE Your chance to quiz Micah

He would be a great man for the job. He is very disciplined and he knows what he wants from the team, I enjoyed playing under him.

But the next England game is not for a while and for the next few weeks I will have to put all that to one side and just concentrate on my club.

I will get in the England team by playing well for City so that is where my focus is.

Micah Richards was talking to Chris Bevan