This entry was being written throughout the evening that Fabio Capello resigned from the England job, which will probably mean that paragraphs may become factually incorrect whilst they are being written; such is the nature of these sudden news events.
I’m loathe to write too much about what has happened, because the majority of people reading it will already be aware of what’s happened. If not, then have a look on a news website or Sky Sports News, this is a story which won’t be leaving the news agenda for at least the foreseeable future.
As football is often such an opinion-based sport, the hours following Capello’s announced departure saw the good, the bad, and the frankly godawful (Neil Warnock) spouting their tuppence-worth in the vain hope that they would be seen as relevant within the debate about who should take the England job. The only person on Sky Sports News not totally preoccupied with all things Capello must have been Peterborough’s director of football Barry Fry, who diligently stuck the task of offering updates from the FA Cup replay between Middlesborough and Sunderland.
The nature of rolling news coverage means that hapless presenters are often left to pad heavily in-between looped footage and the aforementioned phone interviews. Thankfully (for them) the rise in Twitter over the last 2 years makes their job a lot easier as they can knock up a few captions with some Tweets from a load of famous footballers.
In theory that would be great, but everyone claimed to be so shell-shocked by events that it led to a quite mundane set of visuals topped by Rio Ferdinand’s “so capello resigns... what now....” tweet. The evening saw a multitude of names put in the frame of the England job, the majority of whom were felt to have those all-important management attributes of ‘pride’, ‘passion’ and ‘belief’. The ability to speak more than an alleged 100 words of fluent English was also not overlooked.
Several names who could fit the bill as England manager trended on Twitter throughout the night; including Harry Redknapp, Gus Hiddink, Jose Mourinho, Stuart Pearce, Paul Gasgoine, and Mike Bassett. Yes, that’s the fictional character Mike Bassett as played by Ricky Tomlinson. On a personal level I was surprised (but thankful) that the whole situation wasn’t hijacked by the detritus on Twitter, the last thing that any discussion needed was a #1DirectionForEngland hashtag peddled by a load of pre-teens.
It’s a strange state of affairs if you consider that the delaying of John Terry’s trial for the alleged racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand was the catalyst for everything that has preceded Capello’s resignation. Terry’s presumed fear of being found guilty of racial abuse before Euro 2012 prompted his legal team to move the trial to July 9th, giving adequate scope for his possible retirement after the tournament, therefore protecting his reputation (somewhat) before he takes the stand.
From there it’s possible to spot the domino effect - had the whole “innocent until proven guilty” angle been removed from the equation, the FA might not have had to intervene to strip Terry of a national team captaincy that he was lucky to hold for a second time. Capello was (rightly) unhappy to be seen to be undermined, but the interview on Italian television criticising the FA only served to paint him into an uncomfortable corner.
Going forward, the best thing FA can do is not rush into any decisions based under media pressure. After being acquitted from his tax evasion trial earlier in the day, Harry Redknapp looked set to be force-fed a massive nugget of career kryptonite and the bookie’s odds of him taking the England job were slashed as low as 2/7. That his Tottenham Hotspur side are 3rd in the Premier League should not be overlooked, nor should the reality that he could’ve been spending time at her majesty’s leisure earlier in the day. As a man who fought for five years to clear his name, what he faces now is a crossroads of decision which should not be taken lightly.
As the countdown to Euro 2012 draws nearer, the fact remains that this can be an opportunity for the best build-up to a major tournament that England have had for years. Because the whole of the national team setup will now be deemed to be in such a disastrous state, the ever-present anticipation that England will win their first major tournament since 1966 will hopefully dissipate. England have always had the players to make an impact in Poland and Ukraine, but a squad playing its football without the burden of outside expectation might actually not be a terrible idea, whoever is in charge.
Paul
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