James Lawton: Roy gets credit in the bank for being brave

England manager Roy Hodgson: 'I'd be lying if I said that Rio’s [Ferdinand] fitness was the main reason for not selecting him' (PA)

For a man who must have felt these last few days like someone turning out his pockets in the hope of finding a little loose change, England manager Roy Hodgson put on a brave face yesterday. Better still, he gave the distinct impression that he was in charge of both himself and a European Championship squad which, frankly, looks barely competitive.

It cannot have been easy, and the result is not exactly free of contention, but Hodgson may just have sanitised the problem which once again threatened to drag England not just into the column of the losers but also the most deeply dysfunctional of those football nations who think they belong in the front rank.

In announcing what is effectively the end of Rio Ferdinand's international career, and the latest decision by a football man of great experience that in competitive terms John Terry might just be worth all the trouble, Hodgson was obliged to insist that his approach to the issue which led to Fabio Capello's defection had been based entirely on football considerations.

Not everyone was prepared to go along with this, and least of all Ferdinand's camp, but Hodgson was unswerving. He pointed out that Ferdinand has played just once for England in the last year and that if Terry's red card in Barcelona was a disaster it was still true he had made a significant contribution to Chelsea's recovery in the later stages of the season (notwithstanding, of course, a less than awe-inspiring last outing against Liverpool).

Hodgson was, as he had to be, quite relentless in his argument that concerns over whether Ferdinand was strong enough to get through the demands of group play in a major tournament (which have also been expressed by Sir Alex Ferguson) had proved too strong. England is not so rich in world-class talent that the loss of a player of Ferdinand's quality can be dismissed lightly.

After 81 caps and a World Cup performance of such undiluted excellence in 2002 that it has been a constantly haunting backdrop to a career bedevilled by recurring frailty, Ferdinand has plenty of reasons to be sad. However, Hodgson's job is to provide himself with the most reliable range of options.

So, with injury to Kyle Walker, Ferdinand's team-mate Phil Jones makes it into the squad partly because of his ability to play at full-back and in the centre of defence. Hodgson, reasonably enough, pointed out that in Wayne Rooney he is already guaranteed a player who will miss two games.

In such difficulties, which were always going to be compounded by the absence of Jack Wilshere, Hodgson has been obliged not so much to pick a squad as paper over the cracks.

Yesterday's evidence was that he had at least put into the margins the possibility of another wrenching episode of dressing-room civil war. Steven Gerrard may have been a less than magisterial captain in South Africa two years ago but he is by some distance the safest choice for the captaincy of such an unformed team. Elsewhere the debates will crackle on. Admirers of Peter Crouch, above, will no doubt dispute the justice of his exclusion. He does have an impressive record with England and his form for Stoke City has been consistently impressive. But then Hodgson did not get his job to confirm the weight of one consensus or another. He is there to follow his instincts and make judgments based on his experience, and yesterday we saw the consequences.

Crouch and Aaron Lennon were said to be the principal victims and Carroll and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the men who have benefited most from mere bursts of excellence. Yet Hodgson stood his ground with the force you might expect from an old pro.