Beckham to captain Taylor's young lions

Not so much three lions on the shirt as three lion cubs on the nappy. That appears to be the motif of Peter Taylor's regency, after England's caretaker coach revealed his first senior squad yesterday.

Not so much three lions on the shirt as three lion cubs on the nappy. That appears to be the motif of Peter Taylor's regency, after England's caretaker coach revealed his first senior squad yesterday.

In a bold selection for next Wednesday's friendly against Italy in Turin any player born prior to 1970 has been omitted. The party which will leave Luton Airport on Monday afternoon will thus be indistinguishable from a charter flight for Club 18-30 - except, presumably, for the lager and ladies.

Those players culled by their birth date include four past and present captains: Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Paul Ince and David Seaman. Were he still available Alan Shearer would have qualified, but, in his and their absence, David Beckham leads the team for the first time.

Also purged are Teddy Sheringham, the season's most in-form striker, and Graeme Le Saux, England's best left-sided defender. Replacing the 30-somethings are young players of very limited experience, some of whom are not even playing regularly, or well, at club level.

Taylor, however, knows and trusts the likes of Michael Ball, Nicky Butt, Seth Johnson and Frank Lampard from his days as coach to the Under-21s. In all, 12 of his former charges figure in this 26-man squad, plus players such as the Leeds pair of Alan Smith and Paul Robinson, who came through after he had been forced to relinquish the post. Surprisingly, Joe Cole would not have been picked if fit: Taylor said he would not have started and would thus have benefited more from 90 minutes with the Under-21s.

Andy Cole and Steve McManaman have also been left out. Cole is understood to have been carrying an injury which, in the gap between Champions' League stages, Manchester United are taking the opportunity to treat. McManaman appears to be a victim of Taylor's heavy commitments. The Leicester City manager admitted that he did not realise the 28-year-old had forced his way back into the Real Madrid side. He only found out when he rang McManaman to tell him he was being omitted because he was not playing regularly. Other players, he said, had been chosen partly on memory, or for good performances against Leicester.

This is one of the drawbacks of Taylor's dual role. One of the positives is that, as he said, a permanent coach could not have risked picking such anadventurous squad.

Taylor can experiment as he regards this match as a "one-off" as well as a friendly. Though he "would be happy" to continue being caretaker "if Leicester City are happy" he has not yet discussed the prospect with the Football Association.

He added: "Italy are a very hard opponent, but I still thought this was the way to go. I know a lot of these players. Everybody speaks about their potential - this is the way to test it."

There is logic in this, though few would consider an away match against the European Championship finalists the best occasion to experiment. Only seven players have even reached double figures in international starts - normally regarded as the stage when a player starts feeling comfortable - and eight still qualify for the Under-21s. Taylor said he would thus be leaning heavily on the senior players, especially Beckham - David that is, Brooklyn was considered just too young.

"David has very good experience," said Taylor. "I have been impressed with him since the World Cup. Then he took a lot of stick incredibly well and has played really well. He's delighted. I hope he enjoys himself. He deserves it."

Beckham is one of six Manchester United players in the squad, compared to one from Arsenal, which will hardly have had Sir Alex Ferguson complimenting his and Taylor's assistant, Steve McClaren, yesterday.

Taylor has not yet spoken to their forthcoming boss at England level, Sven Goran Eriksson, but intends to do so before the match. Taylor admitted some of the older hands may be upset at missing out on a chance to impress Eriksson, but said: "He would know more about them than the ones on this list and if they miss a game it will notaffect their experience."

Whether the young ones are elevated or traumatised by the challenge remains to be seen. If Taylor follows his philosophy through to the final XI it will be a very young side which could well be exposed by the likes of Francesco Totti, Stefano Fiore and Alessandro Del Piero.

Card-playing, incidentally, will be allowed within the squad, though not for the high stakes which were reported to be changing hands under Kevin Keegan. Quite right too,Taylor's gamble is big enough for all of them.