Former Portsmouth and England goalkeeper David James has said that Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand and Chelsea defender John Terry should be putting aside their differences when it comes to playing for the national team.

England recently appointed former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson as the manager for the next four years. Immediately after taking over, Roy Hodgson has said that his first priority will be to talk with both the players in order to get them playing together for England at Euro 2012. John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are currently in a tight situation with the latter accusing the former of racially abusing his brother QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

However, David James, who was part of the England squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, has said that he does not see no reason why two players should play alongside each other. Hodgson has always been criticised for his native tactics and boring football. David James has said that intense and boring sessions of a major tournament can be particularly increase any tension that may be in the squad. However, he sees both John Terry and Rio Ferdinand as great professionals, who will put aside their personal differences in order to help England win the Euro 2012.

“They are two of the best 23 players. It would be foolish to think that 22, 23 individuals in a group are going to get on famously; there are rifts everywhere. I don’t mean that in a bad way. When you go away with England you put them to one side and get on with what you’ve got to do, which is win games. The fences at the training camp in South Africa were only 8 ft high, a prison is 10 ft, that was the difference,” said James.