FORMER Newcastle United and England captain Alan Shearer believes Rio Ferdinand should have been included in Roy Hodgson’s initial squad for the European Championsips after the defender was overlooked for a late call-up.

Ferdinand was the biggest name to be left out of Hodgson’s original 23-man squad for this summer’s championships in Poland and Ukraine with the England boss citing “footballing reasons” for the Manchester United man’s omission.

Instead, Hodgson opted to pick Chelsea captain John Terry, despite the centre-back struggling to recapture his best form for the majority of the Premier League season.

After Gary Cahill was ruled out of the tournament with a fractured jaw sustained in England’s final warm-up game against Belgium on Saturday, many expected Ferdinand to receive a late call-up.

However, Hodgson continued to overlook the 33-yearold, who has more than 80 international caps, instead choosing to call up Liverpool youngster Martin Kelly, who has a solitary cap to his name.

The decision sparked widespread debate in football circles and former England striker Shearer, who scored 30 times during his international career, believes Ferdinand should have been part of the squad that arrived in Krakow last night.

“Every manager has the right to pick who he wants and who he doesn’t want,”

said Shearer, speaking at Newcastle station as he named East Coast train Blaydon Races to mark the 150th anniversary of the North-East race.

“But, I said when the squad was announced I would have had Rio in from the start, but you can’t please every manager or coach.

“Everyone has their own ideas and plans, but ability wise I would have had him in the very first squad.”

England will pull together their final preparations before Monday’s Group D opener with France in Donetsk after landing in Poland last night, but expectations surrounding the Three Lions’ chances are low.

And Shearer, who also jetted out to Poland yesterday for the BBC’s Euro 2012 coverage, admitted England’s chances look bleak.

“I can’t see us winning it,” he said.

“I think it’s the first time I can remember when we’ve gone into a tournament without huge expectations.

“We didn’t even have a manager or a coach a month ago and we’ve had a lot of injuries.

“I think maybe a semi-final position for England.”

Despite his concerns over England, Shearer feels the Republic of Ireland could spring a surprise despite being drawn in a difficult group.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s side face Italy, Croatia and holders Spain in Group C, but the former Newcastle talisman believes the Republic of Ireland squad can reach the knockout stages.

He said: “I’ve got a sneaky feeling they might get out of that group. The Italians are in disarray, they’ve had three straight defeats so if there was ever a chance of Ireland getting a result then maybe this is it.

“I think the important thing is you don’t get beat in your first game. If you get a result it sets you up for the next one and confidence will be there for the other games. If you can avoid defeat there who knows.

“They’ll be hard to beat.

They don’t score many goals but they don’t concede many either and they’re on a decent run. If there was a team to get out of a hard group I would say Ireland have a shot.”