Steven Gerrard
Aldridge believes Gerrard should captain Liverpool and England. PA

John Aldridge has argued that Stuart Pearce's decision to give the England captaincy to Scott Parker over Steven Gerrard has risked alienating that Liverpool skipper, and was a sign of bad management within the international side.

While Parker was given the captaincy because of his current form, many argued that Gerrard was indeed a better choice because of his superior experience in playing for England.

And Aldridge, who was part of Liverpool's glory side in the 1980s, believes that Pearce made a very big mistake in not giving Gerrard a chance to shine before the Euros.

"Stuart Pearce's treatment of Steven Gerrard over the England captaincy was unbelievably bad man-management," he told the Liverpool Echo. "Scott Parker is a tremendous player but he's not 21. He's the same age as Steven but has a lot less experience.

"Steven has been one of the greatest players in the world over the past decade and will be crucial to England's hopes of doing anything at Euro 2012.

"But Pearce gave him the ultimate insult and to risk alienating a top player like that was very naive. He might be able to coach but to manage England you need to be able to do more than that.

"He's only in charge of England for a short period so I can't understand why the FA didn't step in and ask him who he was going to make captain.

"If I was Steven I'd be thinking about looking after myself rather than serving my country from now on."

Gerrard was named Liverpool captain in 2003, and has taken the side to a Champions League final victory in his time with the club.

Other Liverpool legends, including Jan Molby, have also slammed Pearce's decision to name Parker captain, with Molby maintaining that while the Tottenham man has been in top form, if he can't captain his club he shouldn't lead his country either.