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Fabio Capello didn't reveal his plans for this man. (Photo credit: CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com) |
Capello, on the other hand, was stern yet polite in his refusal to be drawn on questions that he had no intention of answering. There was no revealing of his captain, nor was there any commitment, one way or the other, on the future of David Beckham. As it should be, the new manager has decided to deal with his players face-to-face rather than through the media.
Whereas McClaren seemed intent on being everyone’s friend, Capello brings with him a reputation of being more guard than lapdog. This is a man who, at various points throughout his managerial career, has fallen out in speculator style with Francesco Totti, Alessandro Del Piero and Edgar Davids, to name but three.
For that very reason, this is a man that England fans should rejoice at seeing in charge. Under Sven-Goran Eriksson and McClaren, every squad announcement seemed to be quickly followed by rumors of clandestine meetings among the players, at which formations and tactics were second guessed.
Furthermore, although Capello has yet to manage on the international stage, you cannot help but be impressed by a CV that boasts five Serie A titles with two different clubs, two La Liga championships won 10 years apart, plus a Champions League trophy.
Contrast Capello’s record to McClaren’s list of achievements at Middlesbrough, which was headlined by a Carling Cup win and a fortuitous run to the UEFA Cup final, in which his side was thrashed by Sevilla, 4-0.
Critics of Capello insist that his style of play is bland and uninteresting. So what? Besides anything else, I don’t recall being wowed too often by McClaren’s England. Furthermore, was it not England that, in 1966, won a World Cup without a winger on either flank? Give me dull and efficient any day. It’s been working for Germany for years.
However, the main issue for the majority in England is that Fabio is not ‘Frank’ or ‘Fred’. That is, he wasn’t born on that ‘Sceptred Isle’ and, thus, has no right to have the job. Since McClaren was fired, one former England player after another has been wheeled out to denounce the very concept of another foreign coach.
Indeed, that ultimate protagonist of verbal diarrhea, Ian Wright, suggested he would rather see England struggle under a native coach than succeed whilst being guided by a manager whose background in the game that ‘we’ invented began overseas.
Wright is a so-called pundit whose job it is to create debate so perhaps he can be (somewhat) excused. The most laughable aspect of the whole debate has been the no-name English managers that have fill their own teams with foreign stars and yet are stomping their feet now the national team has overlooked them.
Harry Redknapp, Alan Curbishley, Steve Coppell, Sam Allardyce, Paul Ince. They’ve all had their say and they’ve all said that England’s Italian job is the wrong path to follow. However, not one of them has suggested a homegrown alternative to Capello.
Since Graham Taylor was ousted as manager after failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, every one of the English saviors has been given a go: Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Steve McClaren. Now, there is nobody left!
Given that, let’s give Fabio a chance. Why not go for something completely different, as that bastion of Englishness, Monty Python, might say. Now there’s a thought for the next manager …
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