London, Mar 3 : Liverpool ace Steven Gerrard, who will lead his side against Egypt today, has said that being England captain is one of football's greatest honours.

Boss Fabio Capello has been playing down the importance since the John Terry affair. The Italian insists the English overplay its status compared to other nations.

"I don't think we make too much of the captaincy. To be captain of England is a very proud feeling. Every kid dreams about it and I was no different," The Sun quoted Gerrard, as saying.

Capello has said that in other countries the job usually goes to the team's oldest or most-capped player.

But Gerrard begs to differ on the subject and said: "If you did that, it would be disrespecting the captaincy. It's massive over here, and rightly so. I don't really care what other countries think about it. You have to earn the right to be England captain."

"When I joined up a couple of days ago and Fabio told me I was captain, I was delighted and looked forward to leading the boys out. The manager has made the decision to take the captaincy off John and you have to respect that," he said.

"It's a tough job being the England boss and you've got to make big decisions. He has done that and we all follow," Gerrard said. (ANI)