What's the point in friendlies?

Ahead of England's friendly with Ghana tonight, the same old question has been asked, "What's the point?"

To play a friendly three days after after a competitive fixture holds no advantages, it only antagonises clubs.

Fabio Capello will gain very little from the game as his key players are not even playing, leading to the ludicrous situation where re-appointed skipper John Terry is being allowed to skip the game, leaving Gareth Barry (a fifth or sixth choice normally) as the captain for the game.

Barry wasn't even good enough to make the 18-man squad against Wales, yet here he is captaining the side in the very next game.

Capello will argue the game will give him the chance to look at younger players for the future, but he sees them in the Premier League every week anyway, he has had the chance to run the rule over them in training and he doesn't have a long term future anyway.

No doubt the likes of Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll will be given chances in this game, but with the squad so depleted, it should be classed as a B team game.

It is a con to fans who bought tickets in the thinking they would be seeing the likes of Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Ashley Cole, leading to the game becoming a 90,000 sell-out.

It is a con to the 21,000 Ghana fans who have paid for tickets and flights to see their team come up against some of the best players in the world.

Fans should have been made aware well in advance of Capello's plans to rest players.

The FA is also on a collision course with clubs over preferential treatment.

For example, Wayne Rooney has been allowed to return to Manchester United, leaving him a full week to recover in time for Saturday's lunchtime game against West Ham.

Yet West Ham's key man, Scott Parker, played 90 minutes in Wales and is expected to play the majority of the Ghana game. Where is the fairness there?

The game is a pointless exercise, with nothing riding on the result.

It will all end in tears.

FIFA's presidential candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam has stated that should he become president, he intends to increase the number of friendlies to maximise profit.

Sepp Blatter needs to go, and Bin Hammam has spoke a lot of sense, but the idea to increase friendlies is ludicrous.

There are already too many as there is, even the players seem to see them as something of a chore.

One friendly every now and again is not too bad, for instance when the squad haven't been together for a while and need to blend as a team.

But England have just recently played a friendly against Denmark and are on the back of a qualifier with Wales, so there is no need for this game to be played now.

If Capello sees the game as a chance to give squad players a chance, then clearly he doesn't see those players as good enough for the first-team yet.

So let them develop with their clubs rather than play them in meaningless games. They will learn very little from them.

One thing I read which surprised me this week was that Capello hasn't been to watch a game in the north-east since 2009, only seeing one game there in four years.

That is despite the region having two clubs who have consistently been in the top 10 this season with some very talented English players.

Yes, Capello called up Sunderland's Jordan Henderson and the then-Newcastle striker Andy Carroll against France, and Danny Welbeck for this game, but the fact that he is not even willing to go and see them in action is lazy.

It's like he can't be bothered to go that far north, but journeys like that would show he is still fully committed to the role.

Every decision he takes now makes him look more like a clown.

I support his decision to re-appoint John Terry as skipper, but the way he has handled the situation is farcical.

He should have talked to Rio Ferdinand about it before anyone else, but he seems to underestimate how much captaining England means to players.

The fact he spoke to vice-captain Steven Gerrard about it is a real kick in the teeth for Ferdinand, who has done nothing wrong except for being injured.

His command of the English language seems to be deteriorating rather than improving, as he seems to be counting down the days to the end of his contract.

And now his decision to allow Terry to skip the Ghana game is another mindless one.

If he wants young players to learn from the experience of international football, they need the England captain to help them along during the game.

Playing alongside Terry would at least give them some sort of idea about what it's like to play for England.

But they will be led out by Gareth Barry, who is nowhere near one of the first choices for a central-midfield position.

The experience will leave them more confused than anything else.

Capello has dug himself even deeper into a hole and only winning EURO 2012 will save his reputation now.

The day Harry Redknapp takes over can't come soon enough.