I was delighted with the beginning of Capello's England reign. He instilled a belief in the players that had previously been severely lacking, showing them there was a reason for the culture back home of unrelenting expectation - they were actually a damn good team. Looking back to the heady days of 2008, it is easy to forget just how well England started under Capello. The team won 9 games in qualification for the 2010 World Cup out of 10, losing away to Ukraine in their second-to-last game. The campaign included a rousing 4-1 win in Croatia, 5-1 and 6-0 thumpings of Kazakhstan and Andorra respectively as well as a credible friendly draw in Holland and a friendly win against, wait for it...Germany?!? Really??More than just scorelines on sheets of paper, stories poured out of the England dressing room about the respect for "Mr. Capello". There were no late-night drinks at the bar with Sven, no banter with Steve. Every player turned up to the games in suit and tie. They travelled to and from games in suit and tie. England's brigade of twenty-something millionaires lived the lives of eighty-something nuns for the first months of Fabio Capello's England tenure. The sheer respect the players had for the manager, a man who seemed never to lose his cool, never to even break sweat on the touchline, was quite simply astounding. These Premier League players seemed to genuinely raise their level of performance in order to impress their charismatic new manager, a phenomenon that England fans aren't particularly used to. So where did it all go wrong? Well, given the events of the last week, it is ironic that the answer just might be at Chelsea Football Club.
It is important to remember the magnitude of the Wayne Bridge/ John Terry tabloid saga. First, the willingness of any footballer, never mind the England captain, to have an affair with the spouse of a team mate shocked the football community. Secondly, the eagerness for said footballer to hide this information, desperately clawing at a footballer's favourite Pokemon move, the super-injunction, added a tacky veneer of tabloid sleaze. Thirdly, and most importantly in this context, the fact that this whole affair unfolded after months of blissful marriage between Fabio Capello and his England players was a huge kick in the teeth for the Italian coach. Capello was quick to respond: John Terry was removed as England captain, just four months before the beginning of the 2010 World Cup. The England manager decided that such behaviour was just not acceptable, and arrived at perhaps the only decision available to him under the weight of such intense tabloid pressure. Nobody could legitimately question Capello's judgement in this case.
Where I do question Fabio Capello's judgement, and where my opinion of the England coach started to turn, were two moments before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Firstly, his decision to accept a contract that was, in my opinion, wrongly offered by the FA before England had even kicked a ball in the World Cup smacked of money grabbing. Yes, one can make the point that to decline the contract may have implied to the players that he planned to quit after the World Cup, but I believe the professional thing to do would have been to politely postpone contract negotiations with the FA until after the World Cup, while reassuring the players that he simply wanted to prove his worth as manager in South Africa, creating an atmosphere in the squad where the tournament mattered equally to everyone's future careers. Instead, the acceptance of a two-year contract extension before the World Cup implied complacency on Capello's behalf: "I'm going to be here after this whatever happens, so just do your best". Of course you do not win as many trophies as Capello has with such a lax attitude, but the Italian's lack of consideration for how ludicrous this decision seemed to many supporters and journalists was a worrying sign of things to come.
The second moment was when I first read England's final squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Quite frankly, some of the omissions from that squad are still unfathomable. Shaun Wright-Phillips preferred to Theo Walcott. Perennial under-achiever Emile Heskey preferred to Darren Bent. Scott Parker, Adam Johnson and Leighton Baines missing out, Michael Dawson only included after an injury to Rio Ferdinand forced him out of the tournament. Honestly, to this day how Fabio Capello can justify the inclusion of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick ahead of players like Johnson, Parker or Huddlestone is bewildering. With such a climate of confusion over the squad, arguably the most uninspiring England World Cup squad for over a decade, how were England ever expected to achieve anything at the World Cup?
Then comes Capello's management at the tournament itself. From the very start, fans, journalists and the players themselves were questioning Capello's approach to the World Cup campaign. Players complained of boredom at the team hotel, in games the tactics were unimaginative, the player selection debatable. Capello also apparently took the frustrating decision to only tell the players the starting line-up up to three hours before the game, allowing no time for mental preparation. As Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Milner, Barry, Cole and co. continually underachieved in South Africa, Fabio Capello prowled the touchline like a baboon at the zoo, beating his chest and wailing like a banshee as chance after chance went begging. This man was a Dr. Jekyll to the Mr. Hyde we were so used to, his calm demeanour remaining constant whether win, lose or draw. Now Capello seethed with visible furore, almost beating assistant manager Stuart Pearce to a pulp game after game. What did Capello expect to achieve with this public show of anger against his team? Inpsiration? There was none.
After England's dismal exit at the hands of Germany, the memories of a friendly win not even a year before seemed like pure imagination, yet more scandal began to unfold from the England camp. First Wayne Rooney was accused of cheating on his wife Coleen with two prostitutes, then Peter Crouch was found paying a woman for sex while in Spain. The whole circus seemed to be falling in around Capello's ears. It is now that, for me at least, patience is finally running out with England's Italian coach. Some of Capello's recent England call-ups have bordered on insanity. Yes, one must give players from all clubs a chance and be open to experimentation in friendly games, but I hope the likes of Jay Bothroyd will not be returning to the International fray any time soon. Rumours of a call-up for former Scunthorpe United striker Gary Hooper have, until now, thankfully remained untrue. There is a line between experimentation and downright stupidity. Where does it end? An England return for Michael Owen? Jonathan Walters leading the line?
Finally, Capello has made a move that I find perhaps the most frustrating of all by reinstating John Terry as England captain. While still merely captain of a football team, the position of England captain has greater significance than just that - there is community work to be considered, as well as acting like a figurehead for the English game. By reinstating Terry, Capello is recognising removing the captaincy in the first place as being some kind of strange punishment, rather than about who was best for the role. He has devalued the position, as well as now isolating former captain Rio Ferdinand. Well done, Mr Capello, well done.As England prepare to face Wales in their next European Championships qualifier this coming weekend, I do not think Fabio Capello will be thinking of the game as a pivotal one in his England reign. For many fans growing tired of the mediocrity of Capello's England side, however, it just might be.
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