Park Life » Capello departure is long overdue – but poorly timed

February 9, 2012 | ONLINE ONLY
Dan Holland

What has been most noticeable around Fabio Capello’s departure as England manager is that there is no sense of crisis, never mind mourning, amongst most fans and pundits.

Under normal circumstances, an international manager resigning their post a matter of months before a major championship would provoke panic, particularly when the manager in question has as good a record on paper as Capello does.

Yet, the dramatic events of yesterday, beginning with the conclusion of Harry Redknapp’s court case, seem to have given way to a new-found optimism among many.

The truth of the matter is that Capello never connected with the England players or fans, at least not to the extent that would be expected. It was said last night that Capello only wanted to be a manager of a football team, not the leader of a nation that the England boss is inevitably cast as, and that seemed to be an accurate assessment.

To my mind, the Italian should never have been appointed in the first place, quite simply because of his nationality. That view does not stem from some fervent nationalistic sentiment, rather from a desire to preserve the basic principles of international football. By appointing a foreign coach, first with Sven-Goran Eriksson and then Capello, the FA forgot that international football is not about buying success – it’s about pitting the best of one nation against the best of another. What is more, appointing a foreign coach undermined the abilities of all of the English candidates available as well as the FA’s own coach development system.

Two and a half years later, Capello should have left after the World Cup, and probably would have had the FA not been short-sighted enough to hand him a lucrative new deal before the tournament started. It was clear then that he was not the man for the job, and a ‘loveless marriage’ between the boss and the FA is all that we have witnessed since the disappointment in South Africa.

Having said that, Capello’s resignation has come at a remarkably poor time for England. Whoever replaces him will have to quickly acclimatise to the job to lead England in Poland and Ukraine, not to mention appoint a new captain as the John Terry saga continues.

Added to that, England were actually doing pretty well – qualification was as easy as could be expected and the likes of Danny Welbeck, Jack Rodwell and perhaps even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain provide hope for the future. It was certainly telling that a lot of England’s youngsters expressed their sadness at Capello’s departure yesterday.

The timing also makes it more difficult to appoint the obvious choice to succeed Capello – Harry Redknapp, though had he not been acquitted of tax evasion charges it would have been an almost impossible situation. But Redknapp will surely be loath to leave Spurs at this stage of the season, with them flying in the Premier League. With Stuart Pearce taking charge for the friendly against Holland next month, the most likely option looks to be Redknapp taking over permanently at the end of the season, though this is a far from ideal scenario given that he will have little time to prepare properly for the European Championships.

The question of whether Redknapp is the right man to lead England forward is a difficult one to answer. He is clearly the popular choice, but the last time the FA listened to popular opinion was when they appointed Kevin Keegan, and we all know how that turned out.

I realise that I have significantly reduced my options by stating that the new England manager should be English – in fact, I think the likes of Mourinho, Hiddink or Wenger (all of whom have been mentioned as potential successors) would be better suited to the role, but that’s not the point.

I’m certainly not Redknapp’s biggest fan, and a part of me fears that he lacks the tactical nous to be a success on the international stage. Nevertheless, he is the preferred candidate and would provide the confidence boost that England so desperately need going into the Euros.

One thing is for certain – if Harry doesn’t get the job then the FA will have to do a lot of explaining and their new man will be left in almost as precarious a position as Capello was. That new wave of optimism could very quickly disappear if the next manager can’t get the public on his side immediately, and the FA must get it right or face a return to the melancholy of the Capello regime.

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