The tough Italian task master is all set to take England on to the football turf and the country would be hoping that he would do it with a more success than his predecessor Steve McClaren. It was announced yesterday that the man who led Real Madrid to the La Liga title last season would be under contract with the English national side for a 4 year spell that would pay him £6m a year. The important clause in the contract seems to be the ‘opt out’ in 2010. This seems to be put there in case England have another one of their infamous disastrous runs at the next world cup.
Capello, now 61, will be unveiled at a news conference at 1300 GMT on Monday as the manager of the English national football team before taking up the role on 7 January. His first international duty will be a friendly against Switzerland and knowing the English side, he would do well to start off with a win. His next international fixture does not arrive till a World Cup qualifier on 6 September. With England failing to even qualify for Euro 2008 (considering the array of glittering stars and a very strong domestic league); it seems Capello has plenty of time to think strategy over.
The FA revealed Capello was the number one choice and was the only man to be formally interviewed for the post. It seems that the FA was pretty clear headed about who they wanted for the post. Many names were speculated after the position of England’s manager became vacant when Steve McClaren was sacked on 22 November. The national press of England for long held the view that the ’special one’ who led Chelsea to great success was also a prime contender. But as it turned out Jose was no where in the race; or so claim the FA. That’s too bad, as personally I would have loved to see Mourinho take up the job. I mean, at least we would have had exciting quotes and press conferences.
But I suppose the FA is looking for exciting and positive results and Capello is no doubt someone who has had success over the years in managing top clubs of Europe. The former Italian player has won 9 league titles in 16 years of managing some of the best teams in Europe. He knows how to get the best out of talent and also had the backing of men like Sis Alex for the job. But for now, he brings an all Italian backstage cast to help him out in managing the English side. The Italian’s trusted aide Franco Baldini, his sporting director at Roma and Real Madrid, is included in the backroom staff along with veteran assistant coach Italo Galbiati, goalkeeping coach Franco Tancredi, and fitness coach Massimo Neri. Now that is a lot of Italy in the English dressing room and it sure has many worried about how the team would gel together.
But the FA says that one should not worry about it as they say that they are on their way in integrating someone from English football as a part of the team. There are many names in contention and of all of them, I would love to see New Castle legend Alan Shearer take up a job backstage. The FA seems very confident and very sure about their decision of appointing Capello. Now only time will tell how right they were. England has always been a gross under-achiever on the field over the last two decades. Capello is there to change all that and maybe he can.
What is my advice to the Italian Master? Start the practice with those penalty shots please Fabio.
