Two former England football managers and one of the country's most famous black players have dismissed allegations by Sol Campbell that he'd have been the England captain for more than 10 years if he was white.
The fromer Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur defender, who was born in east London to Jamaican parents, had 73 caps from for England between 1996 and 2007 and captained the side three times.
Campbell makes the in his biography extracts of which are being serialised in the Sunday Times newspaper.
He says it was embarrassing that striker Michael Owen was made captain ahead of him by Sven Goran Eriksson.
Eriksson, who appointed Campbell captain against the United States in 2005, says there wasn't a chance the allegations were true.
Graham Taylor, who was in charge of England between 1990 and 1993, says he's staggered by the accusations saying Campbell is making a real go of giving his book a good sell.
John Barnes, a trailblazer for black England players, believes it was simply a case of other players deserving the honour ahead of Campbell.
Although he says the appointment of David Beckham as captain was a public relations exercise and not because of the colour of Campbell's skin.