Manchester United skipper Wayne Rooney is reportedly in danger of losing the England captaincy following the events of the last few days during which a booze-filled Saturday night a day after the Wembley win over Scotland has seen wall-to-wall media coverage.
The highly controversial Sun newspaper ran two separate 'exclusives' this week centering on a 's**t-faced' Rooney gatecrashing a wedding reception while wearing his England gear on Saturday.
One guest at the party claimed, "He couldn't string a sentence together and was falling over like the 'comedy drunk' - no-one could believe this was the England captain."
Now, the divisive tabloid has followed that up with another 'exclusive' that the FA is to consider Rooney's position as England captain and could strip him of the role as a result, with Gareth Southgate tipped to name a new captain when his permanent accession becomes formal.
If this was the newspaper's end-game, they appear to have won.
A separate report from the Daily Mirrorhas now alsoclaimed that Southgate actually ordered Rooney to stop drinking and wrap up the night, only for the player and two members of FA staffto ignore the request. It was apparentlyonly after that they moved on to the wedding.
The FA is now set to launch a wider investigation to discover exactly which staff were involved.
Did this make front page of newspapers? ? pic.twitter.com/D492PLhASz
Rooney has offered apublic apologysince the images from Saturday night were plastered all over every media outlet, specifically also apologising unreservedly to Southgate as well as FA technical director Dan Ashworth for his behaviour.
Rooney, who is England's all-time record goalscorer and most capped outfield player, first captained the Three Lions in a friendly against Brazil in 2009. His first competitive game as captain came against San Marino in 2012, while he has handed the role permanently after the last World Cup.
If the 31-year-old is to lose the armband - his England career as a whole could also be in jeopardy given a drop in form - Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson, who has captained the national side in two recent Rooney absences, would likely get the nod.
Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has also captained England on several occasions in the past.
To continue the discussion on Twitter follow @jamiespencer155
Visit www.facebook.com/jamiespencer155