9:19am Wednesday 18th August 2010
FABIO Capello has let me down, big-time.
I gave the Italian the benefit of the doubt last week, suggesting it was the players, not the manager who were responsible for England’s humiliating exit from the World Cup.
But, while I stand by that view, I can’t help thinking Capello has only himself to blame for becoming the victim of what he considers a witch hunt.
The more I read and hear about the goings on in the England camp, the more I’m of the opinion the manager has become dangerously detached, not only from his players but also from his bosses at the FA.
And I don’t buy this language barrier nonsense. The shameful way in which he effectively ended David Beckham’s international career had nothing to do with him not speaking fluent English. All it needed was a phone call and a private chat rather than a shoddy public pronouncement . . . but Capello clearly does not do communications.
Otherwise he would have personally invited Paul Scholes to come out of retirement instead of getting his assistant to make the call; he would have had an inkling that Paul Robinson and Wes Brown were considering quitting international football before he named them in his squad for the Hungary game; he might have known Michael Carrick was fit before expressing surprise at his appearance for Manchester United in the Community Shield and he would have been the first – and not the last – to know that England will play France in a friendly in November.
For £6million a year and just a handful of games to prepare for, he should have more than enough money and time to make a few phone calls. If only he had the inclination.
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