World No. 1 Rory McIlroy could lead a general players revolt should fellow Irishman Paul McGinley not be appointed 2014 European Team captain.

The Players Committee will convene at 7.30pm UAE time tonight in the St. Regis (TUE) Hotel at Saadiyat Beach to vote on a replacement for Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal.

Rory McIlroy very outspoken in backing Paul McGinley for tonight’s 2014 captaincy vote. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

McGinley and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie are the only two known candidates given Darren Clarke has officially advised committee chairman, Thomas Bjorn he will not be contesting the Gleneagles vote.

Opinion is divided here in Abu Dhabi depends on who you talk to and in what is seemingly going to be one of the hottest contended captaincy claims in living memory.

However the double Major winning McIlroy, and a veteran now of the past two Ryder Cups, has again made his feelings known.

McIlroy sounded a ringing endorsement in favour of McGinley at his unveiling on Monday night as a Nike staff player.

Now in his pre-Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship press conference the 23-year old was even more out-spoken in McGinley’s favour.

There is a general players meeting starting at 5am ahead of the meeting and don’t be surprised if McIlroy gets up at the meeting to voice his views.

“I have a very strong opinion about this as I really think Paul deserves it,” said McIlroy.

“He’s been a great player and a great personality for the European Tour over the years and a great captain.

“I played under Paul at the Seve Trophy in 2009 and I thought he did a great job.  And from all the captains I have played under I think he was the best.

“He really took a left from what Bernhard Langer did in 2004 at Oakland Hills and left no stone unturned and I think he will just approach it the right way.

“He’s also been a vice-captain in two Ryder Cups, and the two Ryder Cups I’ve played in, and he’s been very influential in the team room and he’s always had opinions and he’s always had great ideas

“So I would love to see him be captain.  I would be disappointed if he didn’t get selected.”

There’s only member of last year’s victorious European Team on the committee and that is Italy’s Francesco Molinari who makes his debut appearance tonight.

And McIlroy feels he needs to voice his opinion, on behalf of the entire Medinah winning team, backing McGinley.

“You’ve got someone like myself and Ian Poulter and Luke Donald and Justin Rose who have all voiced their opinion that they want Paul on the team,” said McIlroy.

“So I would like to think the opinions are valuable to them and that they make their decision based on that.”