This is the NT this is not a FC,
equally good players have to fight for the same places,
every coach has his favourite players and biases,
the press (and the players) tend to create scandals out of those selection and create trouble within the team, the new coach sould respect/keep some balances.
Beckham's popularity avoided to become any major issue so far because
of his unquestioned hyper status in his home by all the supporters,
now the new selection must be a person with experience, respected and tolerated by all, with leader caracteristics and also a special... spark...
the only person after Beckham wich has this special ... care ... from the press and ppl is Rooney,
but he is too young, attacker and ... tempered
in the midfield (natural selection for captains) Gerrard comes close but Lampard isnt that far away,though the "fight" between them was already happened and Gerrard already won the "prize"
but in the defence Ferdinand,Campell and Carragher would question the superiority of Chelsea's player, some would say they are older, some would say they are equaly good, respected, popular etc
talks would emerge from here
Robinson is out of question...
IMO CM Gerrard is the wisest selection to avoid conflicts.