“The decision gets a lot of respect from me to John Toshack, I knew of all the attention it would create and it took a lot of nerve.
“There's an extra appreciation on my behalf for what he has done. There was always going to be a lot of media attention with it.
“I expected this reaction, the negativity. It is not something I am unfamiliar with but one or two good things have been said.”
He added: “I have been captain at under-15, underlevel,-16, under-17 and under-21 leve, so I have captained my country throughout my career. However this is the first time I‘ve been captain at senior level and it has always been an ambition.
“Few people can really understand the feeling to captain your country. Don't get me wrong, Ryan Giggs is the captain, but I have the armband for one or two games and that will live with me forever.”